

«*• 



v » » • •* 
















°o 











V • » • •* 

^ A* *V 



k ' • -» ^ cr 6 • ■ • * ^b 



*2* • ' , ~ V- . * tf* * o « o 









.* V *V 







<• V V »v 









9' .^L% ~> V .«• 



















* * 




c Vv * 















«p^ 









,* V "V 






* A> C«v o 







-v**^ 






■%►■ d fl[ 



GENERAL JOSE MACEO. 



THE 



WAR WITH SPAIN 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 



EDITED AND WRITTEN 



NATHAN C. GREEN. 



With Articles by Military and Naval Experts and News- 
paper Correspondents. 




BALTIMORE : 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS AND BOOK CO. 










^t\ 



"^-Copyrighted, 1896. 
International News and Book Co. 




V 



c 



■\% 



:)- 



O 

CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. 

FACE 

Introductory, I 

CHAPTER II. 
Cuba — Historical, ..„ 33 

CHAPTER III. 
The War of 1895, 103 

CHAPTER IV. 

Terrific Struggle at Santiago, ......... 131 

CHAPTER V. 
Naval Battle at Santiago, 169 

CHAPTER VI. 
Hobson, the Hero, 188 

CHAPTER VII. 
Hobson's Own Story, 19 2 

CHAPTER VIII. 
How Manila Fell 197 



CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER IX. 

PAGE 

Senator Sherman on Cuba 204 

CHAPTER X. 
A Trip to the Interior with General Grant, ... . 251 

CHAPTER XI. 
Murat Halstead on the Cuban Crisis, 281 

CHAPTER XII. 
Incidents of the War 293 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Spanish Atrocities, 351 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Right of Cubans to Recognition as Belligerents 

and to Independence, 369 

CHAPTER XV. 
Cuban Independence 405 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Spanish Despotism in Cuba Supported by the United 

States, 419 

APPENDIX. 

Official Report of the Court of Inquiry which Investi- 
gated the Maine Disaster, 471 

Situation in Cuba by U. S. Senator Proctor, .... 486 

Battle of Manila, 499 

Philippine Islands 507 

Detailed Report of Naval Victory by Admirals Samp- 
son, Schley and Captain Clark 513 

Peace Agreement Officially Signed 522 

Diary of the War 525 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



General Jose Maceo Frontispiece. 

The Indian Statue in the Prado 5 

Scene in Matanzas 5 

Gen. Fitzhugh Lee 6 

Captain Higginson, First-Class Battleship "Massachu- 
setts" 11 

Commodore Schley, in Command of Flying Squadron. ... 11 

Avenue of Palms 12 

Street Scene in Havana 12 

Gate of Acala, Madrid 17 

Royal Palace, Madrid 17 

"New York" (Armored Cruiser) 18 

A Village Scene in Cuba 23 

The Water Carrier 23 

Ericsson 24 

Exterior View of the Amphitheatre, Madrid 29 

Fountain of Cibeles, Madrid 29 

"Reina Regenta" (Spanish Unprotected Cruiser) 30 

Panorama of the Prado 39 

"Bancroft" (Special Class) 40 

Washing Horses at the Punta, Havana 47 

"Montgomery" (Cruiser) 48 

Fruit Seller 55 

"Machias" (Gunboat) 56 

Havana 63 

Explosion of the "Maine" in Havana Harbor, February 

IS, 1898 54 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE. 

Tobacco Plantation 7 1 

The Battleship "Maine" n 

Ox Carts 79 

Interior of the Upper Turrets, Showing Breeches of the 

8-Inch Guns on "Massachusetts" 80 

Palace of the Captain-General 87 

Native Family 95 

General Weyler 103 

General Gomez 103 

"Newark" (Protected Steel Cruiser) til 

Columbus Memorial Chapel 119 

Interior of the Casino 127 

Pineapple Plantation 135 

Calle Obispo (Obispo Street) 143 

Recreation, "Jolly Tars" 151 

The Flying Squadron at Hampton Roads 159 

Tacon Theater and Inglaterra Hotel 167 

Cathedral 175 

A Volante 183 

Serving Milk 191 

Sewing Hammocks 109 

Capt. Joseph Fry, Commander of the "Virginius," Shot 

at Santiago de Cuba 207 

Spanish Soldiers Blowing off the Heads of the Wounded 

Members of the "Virginius's" Crew 207 

After the Shooting of the Crew of the "Virginius" — Ne- 
groes of the Chain-Gang Tumbling the Dead Bodies 

of the Victims into Mule-Carts 215 

A Spanish Advance Post, Outside Remedios 223 

The "Virginius" Outrage — Shooting of Four Prominent 

Cuban Patriots 231 

Cuban Insurgents Fighting Behind Barrels 239 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE. 

Scene on Sugar Plantation, Cuba 247 

Bull-Fight Scene 255 

The Cuban Insurrection — Morro Castle, at the Entrance 

to the Harbor of Havana 263 

The Butchery of the Crew of the "Virginius" — Scene at 
the Slaughter-House the Moment Before the Execu- 
tion — Capt. Fry Bidding His Companions Farewell. . 271 

Attack Upon a Fort near Vueltas 279 

The "Virginius" Butchery in 1873 — Spanish Horsemen 
Tramping the Dead and the Dying Victims into the 

Slaughter-House Trench at Santiago de Cuba 287 

Spanish Soldiers Guarding a Railroad Train 295 

Section of Spanish Artillery 303 

A Scene in a Hospital in Havana 311 

A Cuban Watching the Movement of the Spanish Army. . 319 

A Cuban Window 327 

A Cocoanut Grove 335 

Insurgent's Cave 343 

Spanish Soldiers Guarding a Plantation 349 

Valley of the Yumuri 361 

Drive to the Bellamar Caves, Cuba 367 

President McKinley and his Cabinet Discussing the Span- 
ish Difficulty 368 

Horses Loaded with Maloja 373 

A Country Villa 379 

Spain's Torpedo-Boat Flotilla 380 

"Concord" (Gunboat) 38s 

A Mortar Battery in Action, Defending a Harbor 386 

Native Candy Seller 39i 

Upper Turrets and 8-Inch Guns on "Massachusetts" 392 

Royal Palm Trees 397 

8-Inch Forward Gun on the "Atlanta" 398 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PACK 

A Cuban Ploughman 4°3 

8-Inch Gun on "New York" 404 

Royal Palms, Botanical Gardens. 400 

Upper Train ; ng-Ship Gun-Practice 4 10 

Interior of Cathedral 4 T 5 

"Raleigh" (Protected Cruiser) 4 l6 

On the Road to the Caves 421 

A Fruit Stand 427 

A Narrow Street and Cathedral 433 

General Jose Maceo and Staff 439 

Matanzas and Yumuri River 445 

Encampment of General Maceo 451 

Governor-General's Palace 457 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Spain occupies the larger portion of the great penin- 
sula which forms the southwest corner of the European 
continent, reaching further south than any other Euro- 
pean country, and further west than any except Portu- 
gal. It is bounded on the north by the Bay of Biscay 
and by France, from which it is separated by the moun- 
tain ridge of the Pyrenees ; on the east and south by the 
Mediterranean and Atlantic, and on the west by the 
Atlantic and Portugal. Greatest length, from Fuen- 
terrabia on the north to Tarifa on the south, 560 miles ; 
greatest breadth, from Cape Finisterre (Land's End), 
the extreme point on the west, to Cape Creuze, the ex- 
treme point on the east, about 650 miles; average 
breadth about 380 miles. Area, including the Balearic 
and Canary Isles, 196,031 square miles; population, 
about 16,000,000. The country, including the Bal- 
earic and Canary Isles, was divided in 1834 into forty- 
nine modern provinces, though the former division, 



2 STORY OF SPAIN AMD CUBA. 

into fourteen kingdoms, States, or provinces, is still 
sometimes used. 

COAST-LINE. 

The entire perimeter of the country is 2080 English 
miles, and the coast-line, exclusive of windings, is 1317 
miles long, of which 712 miles are formed by the Medi- 
terranean and 605 miles by the Atlantic. The north 
coast, from Fuenterrabia west to Cape Ortegal, is un- 
broken by any considerable indentation. A wall of 
rocks, varying in height from thirty to 300 feet, runs 
along this shore; but the water, which retains consid- 
erable depth close to the beach, is not interrupted to 
any unusual extent by islands or rocks. The north- 
west coast, from Cape Ortegal south to the mouth of 
the river Minho — which separates the Spanish prov- 
ince of Galicia from Portugal — though rock-bound, is 
less elevated, and is much more broken than the shores 
washed by the Bay of Biscay; and the indentations, the 
chief of which are Noya Arosa and Vigo Bays, form 
secure and spacious harbors. From the mouth of the 
Guadiana, on the south, to the Strait of Gibraltar, the 
coast-line, though well defined, is low, sandy and occa- 
sionally swampy. From Gibraltar to Cape Palos the 
shores, which are backed in part by the mountain-range 
of the Sierra Nevada, are rocky and high (though flats 
occur at intervals), are unbroken by indentations, and 
comprise only two harbors, those of Cartagena and 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 3 

Malaga. A low, and for the most part sandy, coast 
extends north from Cape Palos, rising into rocky 
cliffs and bluffs in the vicinity of Denia, but extending 
in sandy flats from Denia to the mouth of the Ebro. 
From the mouth of this river, north to the frontier of 
France, the coast is alternately high and low, and its 
principal harbors are Barcelona and Rosas. 

SURFACE AND HYDROGRAPHY. 

The compactness and the isolation of this country, 
and its position between two seas, the most famous, 
and commercially the most important in the world, are 
not more in its favor than the character of its surface, 
which is more diversified than that of any other country 
in Europe of equal extent. An immense plateau, the 
loftiest in the continent, occupies the central regions 
of Spain, and is bounded on the north and west by 
mountainous tracts, and on the northeast by the valley 
of the Ebro; on the east by tracts of land frequently 
low, but in some parts traversed by hill-ranges; on the 
south by the valley of the Guadalquivir, which inter- 
venes between it and the Sierra Nevada. This great 
plateau rises to the height of from 2000 to 3000 feet, 
and occupies upwards of 90,000 square miles, or about 
half of the entire area of the country. The whole of the 
Pyrenean peninsula is divided by Spanish geographers 
into seven mountain ranges, of which the chief are: 



4 ST0R7 OF SPAIN AMD CUBA. 

I. The Cantabrian mountains and the Pyrenees, form- 
ing the most northern range; 2. The Sierra de Guad- 
arrama, separating Leon and Old Castile from Estre- 
madura and New Castile, and rising in the peak of Pen- 
alara, 7764 feet above the sea- level; 3. The Montes de 
Toledo, forming a part of the water-shed between the 
Tagus and the Guadiana; 4. The Sierra Morena, be- 
tween the upper waters of the Guadiana and Guadal- 
quivir; 5. The Sierra Nevada, running parallel with 
the shores of the Mediterranean, through Southern 
Murcia and Andalucia, and rising in its chief summits 
to loftier elevations than are found in any mountain 
system of Europe, except that of the Alps. The sev- 
eral mountain-ridges, or, as they are called, Cordil- 
leras of Spain, have a general east and west direction, 
and between them run, in the same direction, the nearly 
parallel valleys or basins of the great rivers of the coun- 
try, the Douro, Tagus, Guadiana and Guadalquivir. 

CLIMATE AND SOIL. 

The climate, owing to the extent and configuration 
of the country, is exceedingly various. In the north- 
west (maritime) provinces, it is damp and rainy during 
the greater part of the year ; at Madrid, which is situated 
about n° south of London, and only 5 north of the 
shores of Africa, winters have occurred of such severitv 
that sentinels, while on duty, have been frozen to death ; 




GEN. FITZHUGH LEE. 



JTUtiV (Jt SFAliSl AJSIx. VClbA... 

vvhile the south and east provinces are warm in white*. 

and are exposed to burning winds from the south, and 
to an almost tropical heat in summer. Both ancient 
and modern geographers have adopted difference of 
climate as the rule for dividing the Peninsula into tracts 
distinct as well in soil and vegetation as in tempera- 
ture. Of these tracts or zones the first and most north- 
ern may be considered as embracing Galicia, Asturias, 
the Basque Provinces, Navarre, Catalonia, and the 
northern districts of Old Castile and Aragon. In this 
tract the winters are long, and the springs and autumns 
rainy, while north and northeast winds blow cold from 
the snow-covered Pyrenees. The country, which al- 
ternates with hill and dale, is plentifully watered by 
streams rich in fish, and meadows yielding rich pastur- 
age abound. Corn scarcely ripens in the more exposed 
districts, but grain crops of all kinds are produced in 
others, as well as cider, wine and valuable timber. The 
middle zone is formed mainly by the great central pla- 
teau, and embraces Northern Valencia, New Castile, 
Leon and Estremadura, with the south parts of Old 
Castile and Aragon. The climate of the great part of 
this region is pleasant only in spring and autumn. 
Throughout the chilly winter, the treeless table-lands 
are overswept by violent tempests, and in summer are 
burned up by the sun. The soil is generally fertile, 
and corn and wine are most abundantly produced. 
The southern or Baetican zone, comprising the rich 



8 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

country that extends between the southern wall of the 
central plateau and the Mediterranean shores, includes 
Andalucia, Murcia and Southern Vahncia. The stony 
rampart on the north protects it from the chilly winds 
of the central zone; but it is unprotected against the 
hot winds which in summer blow north from Africa, 
and render this season intolerable to northern Euro- 
peans. Here the winter is temperate, and the spring 
and autumn delightful beyond description. The de- 
scent from the cold and mountainous central regions 
to this tract of tropical heat and fertility affords a most 
striking contrast. The soil, which is artificially irri- 
gated, is well adapted to agriculture and the cultiva- 
tion of heat-loving fruits. The products comprise 
sugar, cotton and rice, and the orange, lemon and date. 

HISTORY. 

Spain, the Spania, Hispania and Iberia of the Greeks, 
and known to the Romans by the same names, was 
inhabited at the period at which it first receives histori- 
cal mention by a people deriving their origin from dif- 
ferent races. It is supposed to have been originally 
inhabited by a distinct race called Iberians, upon whom, 
however, a host of Celts are supposed to have de- 
scended from the Pyrenees. In the earliest times of 
which we have any record, these two races had already 
coalesced and formed the mixed nation of the Celti- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 9 

berians, who were massed chiefly in the centre of the 
peninsula, in the western districts of Lusitania, and on 
the north coasts. In the Pyrenees and along the east 
coast were to be found pure Iberian tribes, while un- 
mixed Celtic tribes occupied the northwest. In Bsetica 
( Andalucia) there was a large admixture of the Phoenician 
element, and on the south and east coasts, numerous 
Phoenician, Carthaginian, Rhodian and other colonies. 
A portion of the south coast, called Tartessus by the 
Greeks, the Tarshish of Scripture, was much fre- 
quented for its mineral riches by the Phoenician mer- 
chantmen, and the "ships of Tarshish'' were as distinct 
a section of the Tyrian mercantile marine, as were the 
Spanish galleons of the sixteenth century, or our own 
Indiamen of more recent times. But the bond which 
connected the Iberians and the Phoenicians was purely 
of a commercial character. About the middle of the 
third century B. C, the Carthaginian influence began 
to be much felt in Iberia, and a considerable tract of 
territory was brought under subjection to Carthage by 
Hamilcar, who founded the city of Barcelona. During 
the next eight years, the Carthaginian interest was ad- 
vanced and its power further strengthened by Hasdru- 
bal (died 220 B. C), son-in-law of Hamilcar, who 
founded Carthago Nova (the modern Cartagena), and 
concluded a treaty with the Romans whereby it was 
stipulated that he should not advance his standards 
north of the Iberus (Ebro). Hannibal, son of Hamil- 



10 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

car, and the greatest of all the Carthaginian generals, 
now assumed the command in the peninsula. He at- 
tacked and destroyed Saguntum, and thus violated the 
treaty made between his father and the Romans. The 
destruction of Saguntum was the cause of the Sec- 
ond Punic War. After the Romans had driven the 
Carthaginians from the peninsula in 206 B. C, the 
country was erected into a Roman province, consisting 
of two political divisions — Hispania Citerior (Hither 
Spain), including the eastern and northern districts, or 
those nearest to the centre of the Roman Empire; and 
Hispania Ulterior (Further Spain), including the dis- 
tricts furthest from Rome, or the southern and western 
districts. It was not, however, till 25 B. C. that the 
Cantabri and Astures in the extreme north of the coun- 
try laid down their arms to Augustus. After the coun- 
try had been reduced to subjection, it was divided into 
the three provinces of Tarraconensis (embracing the 
northern and eastern provinces, Bsetica (Andalucia), 
and Lusitania (Portugal and certain of the western 
provinces). This division of the country lasted till the 
reign of Constantine the Great (306-337). From the 
time of the complete supremacy of the Romans till the 
death of Constantine the condition of Spain was emi- 
nently prosperous. The inhabitants, when brought 
under the iron rule of the empire, were forced for the 
time to desist from the intestine wars in which it had 
been their habit to indulge, and adopting the language, 




3 § 



o 



3 
s * 





AVBNDB OF PALMS. STREET 80BNB IN HAVANA. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 13 

laws and manners of their conquerors, they devoted 
themselves to industrial pursuits, and increased re- 
markably both in wealth and in numbers. Every- 
where throughout the country, towns of a purely Ro- 
man character sprang up, among the chief of which 
were Leon, Emerita, Augusta (Merida), Pax Julia (Be- 
ja), Csesar Augusta (Zaragoza), and numerous aque- 
ducts, bridges, amphitheatres, etc., were built, the ruins 
of which are the wonder of the modern traveler. Spain, 
though obtained at enormous cost both in treasure and 
in human life, was for three centuries the richest prov- 
ince of the Roman Empire. Its fertile fields formed 
for a considerable time the granary of Rome, and from 
its metal-veined sierras an immense amount of treasure 
in gold, silver, etc., flowed into the Roman coffers. 
"Twenty thousand pound-weight of gold," says Gib- 
bon, "was annually received from the provinces of 
Austria (Asturias), Galicia and Lusitania." This 
amount of wealth was not the voluntary offering of the 
natives, who were compelled to labor in their mines 
for the benefit of strangers; and thus Spain, in the early 
ages, was the type of Spanish America in the fifteenth 
and succeeding centuries, with the single difference 
that in the first case the Spaniards were the slaves, and 
in the second they were the slaveholders. In 409 A. D. 
hordes of barbarians, Alans, Vandals and Suevi. 
crossed the Pyrenees and swept over and desolated the 
peninsula — the Vandals for the most part settling in 



14 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

Baetica, the Alans in Lusitania, and the Suevi in Leon 
and Castile. About 412, the Visigoths invaded the 
country, and their king, Athaulf, who acknowledged a 
nominal dependence on the Roman emperor, estab 
lished the Gothic monarchy in Catalonia. Of the Visi- 
goths — by whom the Suevi were subjugated (584), the 
Vandals and Alans expelled (427) from the country, 
and large portions of Gaul annexed to their Spanish 
dominion — the most remarkable kings were Wallia 
(415-418), who greatly extended the Gothic monarchy ; 
Euric (466-483), who, besides increasing his territory, 
introduced and enforced a body of laws, and did much 
for the advancement of civilization in Spain; Wamba 
(673-680), who built a fleet for the protection of the 
coasts, and Roderic, who was killed at Xeres de la 
Frontera in 711, in battle with the Moors. The battle 
of Xeres gave the Moors almost undisputed mastery 
of nearly the whole of Spain, as well as of the outlying 
Gothic province of Septimania (Languedoc) in France, 
for the remnant of the Goths betook themselves to the 
highlands of Asturias, Burgos and Biscay, where, in a 
region which throughout had enjoyed more liberty 
than any other part of Spain, they maintained their in- 
dependence. 

DYNASTY OF THE MOORS. 

The Arabs, or, as they are more properly termed, the 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 15 

Moors, held Spain for the first few years of their rule 
as a dependency of the province of North Africa; but, 
after the downfall of Muza and his son Abd-el-aziz, who 
had been the deputy-governor of Spain, the country 
was governed (717) by emirs appointed by the calif of 
Damascus. The favorite scheme pursued by the 
Spanish emirs was the extension of their conquests 
into Gaul, to the neglect of the rising power of the 
Goths in Asturias; they also took the Balearic Islands, 
Sardinia, Corsica and part of Apulia and Calabria; the 
Mediterranean was infested by their fleets, but their 
northward progress was most signally checked on the 
plain of Tours by Charles Martel. Anarchy and blood- 
shed were prominent features of the first forty years of 
Mohammedan rule in Spain. The walis, or local gov- 
ernors of districts and provinces, frequently rebelled 
against the emir, and drew sword against each other 
according as ambition or animosity dictated. Within 
this period of forty years, no fewer than twenty emirs 
had been called to the direction of affairs ; but a revo- 
lution at Damascus, which unseated the Ommiades, 
and placed the Abbasides in possession of the califate, 
put an end to this state of misrule in Spain. The last 
of the emirs, Jussuf, was in favor of the Abbasides, but 
the walis and alcaydes being chiefly of the Ommiade 
faction, invited one of this family, who was in conceal- 
ment among the Zeneta Arabs in Barbary, to become 
an independent calif in Spain. Thus was founded the 



1G STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

califate of Cordova, from which, in 778, the Franks 
wrested all its possessions north of the Pyrenees, and 
Northeastern Spain to the Ebro; the latter acquisition, 
subsequently denominated the Spanish March, being 
alternately in the hands of the Moors and dependent 
upon France. 

CHRISTIAN KINGDOMS. 

During this period of Moorish domination, the 
small independent kingdom of Asturias, founded by 
Pelayo had been growing in power and extent. It 
was increased by Galicia in 758, and by parts of Leon 
and Castile towards the close of the century. In 758, 
a second independent Christian kingdom was founded 
in Sobrarve, and increased by portions of Navarre on 
one hand and Aragon on the other, but though it, 
along with the French Gascons, aided the Moors at 
Roncesvalles, it was, in 801, again swallowed up by the 
califate of Cordova. However, thirty-six years after- 
wards a Navarres count, casting off his allegiance to 
France, founded the third Christian kingdom, that of 
Navarre, which, from this time, easily maintained itself, 
owing to its situation, in independence of the Moors. 
The kingdom of Asturias, now (900) Leon, was for a 
long time distracted by bitter and bloody strife among 
the members of the royal line, and, with its neighbor 
Navarre, would have fallen an easy prey to the power- 




GATE OF AOALA, MADRID. ROYAL PALACE. MADRID. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUB*. 19 

ful Ommiades, had not the latter directed their chief 
attention to the subjugation of Morocco; and, under 
cover of this relaxation of the constant warfare be- 
tween Moors and Christians, another independent 
monarchy, an offshoot from Leon, was founded in Cas- 
tile (933, kingdom in 1035), which, from its central po- 
sition, and consequent greater facilities for expansion, 
soon became the most powerful of the Spanish States,' 
especially after its union (temporary, 1072-1157), in 
1230, with Leon. A considerable part of Aragon had 
been wrested from the Moors by Sancho III (1000- 
1035) of Navarre, and at his death this part of his do- 
minions passed by inheritance to his son Ramiro, who 
added to it the districts of Sobrarve and Ribagorza, and 
a considerable extent of country which he conquered 
from the common enemy, the Moors. This kingdom 
of Aragon was the last Christian kingdom formed in 
Spain; and though it increased by acquisitions from 
the Moors, yet being limited by Leon, Castile and Na- 
varre on one side, and the Spanish March (now only 
the county of Catalonia or Barcelona) on the other, it's 
princes aimed at maritime power; and by the union, 
through the marriage of the Count of Barcelona with 
Queen Petronilla, of the Spanish March with Aragon. 
means were obtained of carrying out this policy, and 
the spread of the Aragonese dominion to Sicily, Na- 
ples and other regions bordering on the Mediterranean 
was the consequence. These three kingdoms— Cas- 



20 IS TORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

tile and Leon, Navarre, and Aragon — continued, 
sometimes in combination and sometimes, separately, 
to war against their common enemy, the Moors — Cas- 
tile being, from its greater power and proximity, the 
most persistent assailant, and Navarre, for the oppo- 
site reason, the least so; but whenever the arrival of 
fresh levies from Africa, or the accession of an ener- 
getic calif threatened serious danger to any one of the 
Uiree, the others generally came to its aid. 

The extinction of the Ommiades in Spain in 103 1, 
and the disruption of the califate into the minor king- 
doms of Cordova, Seville, Toledo, Lisbon, Zaragoza, 
Tortosa, Valencia, Murcia, Badajos, and seven others 
of less note, was an occurrence by which the kings of 
Castile and Aragon did not fail to benefit, for by well- 
directed and unremitting attacks they subdued some, 
rendered other tributary, the kings of Portugal also on 
their side gallantly and successfully pursuing the same 
policy ; and a few years more would have certainly an- 
nihilated Moorish domination in Spain, had not Mo- 
hammed of Cordova and Seville, hard pressed by Al- 
fonso VI of Leon and Castile about the close of the 
eleventh century, applied for aid to an Arab tribe, 
whose military career in North Africa had been of the 
most brilliant character. This tribe, the Almoravides 
— i. e., men devoted to the service of God — had made 
themselves masters of the provinces of Africa and Al- 
magreb, and founded the empire of Morocco. Re- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 21 

sponding to the request of Mohammed, the Almora- 
vides crossed over to Spain, defeated the king of Ara- 
gon and Castile, and recovered much of New Castile. 
Then, turning upon their ally Mohammed, they com- 
pelled him to yield up the provinces of Cordova and 
Seville, and all the minor Moorish princes to follow his 
example; so that, in 1094, the Almoravide sovereign 
was acknowledged sole monarch of Mohammedan 
Spain. The power of this tribe, however, began to de- 
cline about 1 1 30, and was extinguished by the Almo- 
hades, a fanatical sect of Mohammedans, who landed 
in Spain in the middle of the twelfth century, and con- 
quered the territories of the Mohammedans in Spain. 
During the reign of the third monarch of this dynasty 
took place the battle between the combined forces of 
Castile, Leon, Navarre, Aragon and Portugal, with the 
Moors, in which the former gained the most cele- 
brated victory ever obtained by the Christians over 
their Moslem foes, the latter losing, according to the 
account transmitted to the Pope, 100,000 killed and 
50,000 prisoners. This sanguinary conflict, fought on 
the plains of Tolosa (las navas de Tolosa), 16th July, 
1 21 2, broke the Almohade power in Spain, as that of 
Salamanca (22d July, 1812), almost exactly six cen- 
turies afterwards, did the more formidable strength of 
Napoleon. On the fall of the Almohades, Mohammed- 
ben-Alhamar, the king of Jaen, rose to the first place 
among the Mohammedan princes, and founded (1238) 



22 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

the kingdom of Granada. The king of Granada was 
speedily forced to become a vassal of Castile, and from 
this period all danger from Moslem power was over. 
The rest of the history of the Spanish kingdoms before 
their union is undeserving of a detailed account. The 
Castilian court was the scene of almost constant do- 
mestic strifes and rebellions, varied with a campaign 
against Granada or in favor of the monarch of that 
kingdom against his rebellious vassals; the only prom- 
inent monarchs of this kingdom being Ferdinand 111, 
who confined the Moorish dominion to the south of 
Andalucia; Alfonso X, Alfonso XI, Pedro the Cruel, 
and Queen Isabella, the last sovereign of Castile, who 
succeeded her brother, Henry IV, owing to a wide- 
spread belief in the illegitimacy of the latter's daughter. 
Aragon, on the other hand, was almost wholly free 
from intestine dissensions, doubtless owing to the in- 
terest taken by the Aragonese monarchs in Italian poli- 
tics; of these sovereigns, Jayme I (1213-1248) con- 
quered Valencia and Majorca, and, first of all the Ara- 
gonese kings, received a voluntary oath of allegiance 
from his subjects; Pedro III (1248- 1285), wno ob- 
tained Sicily (1282), Minorca and Iviza; Jayme II, who 
conquered Sardinia and Corsica; Alfonso V (1416- 
1468), who conquered Naples, and Ferdinand II, the 
Catholic, the last sovereign of Aragon, who, by mar- 
riage with Isabella, Queen of Castile, in 1469, the con- 
quest of Granada in 1492, and that of Navarre in 1512, 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 25 

united the whole of Spain (and French Navarre) under 
one rule. 

The year 1492, in the reign of Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella, witnessed also the discovery of America, as well 
as the capture of Granada. Spain had now become 
consolidated into one empire, from the Pyrenees to the 
Strait of Gibraltar, civil wars were at an end; and a 
splendid continent, teeming" with riches, had been 
opened up for Spanish adventure and enterprise. But, 
as the most active spirits among- the Spaniards now 
crowded to the New World, the soil of Spain, and its 
mineral treasures, both inexhaustible sources of wealth, 
were neglected for the riches of the fancied El Dorado, 
where, as was everywhere believed, gold was more 
plentiful than iron was in the old country. Besides 
the drain upon the country from emigration, the ex- 
pulsion of the Jews and Moors was productive of the 
direst results; and the decline of the splendid Spanish 
Empire, upon which the sun even then never set, may 
be said to have had its origin in the event which raised 
the country to the height of its magnificence. Charles I 
(Charles V of Germany) succeeded Ferdinand, and in 
his reign Mexico and Peru were added to the posses- 
sions of Spain. Philip II, by his enormous war expen- 
diture and mal-administration, laid a sure foundation 
for the decline of the country. Industry, commerce 
and agriculture may be said to have been extinguished 
at the expulsion of the Moriscoes; and the reigns of 



26 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

Philip III and Philip IV witnessed a fearful accelera- 
tion in the decline of Spain by the contests with the 
Dutch, and with the German Protestants in the Thirty 
Years' War, the intermeddling of Olivarez in the affairs 
of Northern Italy, the rebellion of the Catalans, whom 
the minister wished to deprive of their liberties, the 
wars with France, and the rebellion of Portugal (1640), 
which had been united to Spain by Philip II. That of 
Charles II was still more unfortunate, and the death of 
the latter was the occasion of the War of the Spanish 
Succession. Philip V was the first of the Bourbon dy- 
nasty who occupied the throne of Spain. Under 
Charles III (1759-1788), a wise and enlightened prince, 
the second great revival of the country commenced; 
and trade and commerce began to show signs of return- 
ing activity. During the inglorious reign of Charles 
IV (1788- 1 808), who left the management of affairs in 
the hands of the incapable Godoy, a war (1796-1802) 
broke out with Britain, which was productive of noth- 
ing but disaster to the Spaniards, and by the pressure 
of the French another arose in 1804, and was attended 
with similar ill-success. Charles abdicated in favor of 
his eldest son, the Prince of Asturias, who ascended 
the throne as Ferdinand VII. Forced by Napoleon 
to resign all claims to the Spanish crown, Ferdinand 
became a prisoner of the French in the year of his ac- 
cession ; and in the same year Joseph, the brother of the 
French emperor, was declared king of Spain and the 



STOin OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 27 

Indies, and set out for Madrid, to assume the kingdom 
thus assigned to him. But before this time, an armed 
resistance had been organized throughout the whole 
country. The various provinces elected juntas or 
councils, consisting of the most influential inhabitants 
of the respective neighborhoods, and it was the busi- 
ness of these juntas to administer the government, 
raise troops, appoint officers, etc. The supreme junta, 
that of Seville, declared war against Napoleon and 
France on the 6th of June, 1808. In July, England, on 
solicitation, made peace with Spain, recognized Ferdi- 
nand VII as king, and sent an army to aid the Spanish 
insurrection. Joseph, on July 9, entered Spain, de- 
feated (through his lieutenant Bessieres) the Spaniards 
at Rio Seco, and entered Madrid on the 20th; but the 
defeat of Dupont at Baylen by the veteran Spanish 
general Castanos, somewhat altered the position of af- 
fairs, and Joseph, after a residence of ten days in his 
capital, was compelled to evacuate it and retire north 
to Vitoria. The noble defense by Palafox of the city 
of Zaragoza against Lefebvre, and the return of the 
Marquis de la Romana with 7000 regular troops, who 
had been wiled from the country by Napoleon, did 
much to inspirit the patriots. On the I2th July, 1808, 
Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington, 
at the head of the British auxiliary force, landed (51I1 
August) at Mondego Bay. and began the Peninsular 
War bv defeating 1 the French at Roliza and Vimiero; 



2S STORY OF SPAIN AND CU&A, 

but in spite of his opposition, the Convention of Cintra 
was signed, and the French transported to their own 
country. In November, 1808, Napoleon, who had 
been preceded by Ney with 100,000 men, entered Spain 
and at once assumed the command. For a time his 
armies were completely successful ; Soult utterly routed 
the Spanish general Belvedere, 10th November, and 
annihilated Blake at Reynosa on the 13th. Castanos 
and Palafox were routed at Tudela by Lannes, and in 
the beginning of December, Napoleon entered Madrid. 
At this time the British forces were under the com- 
mand of Sir John Moore, who, aware of his great infe- 
riority in numbers and resources, retreated west from 
Salamanca, whither he had come to assume the com- 
mand of the allied forces, and reached Coruna on the 
nth January, 1809. On the 22d April, General Wel- 
lesley arrived in Portugal, and, at once commencing 
operations, drove Soult from Oporto, and took posses- 
sion of Portugal; then, favored by the disunity of ac- 
tion which subsisted between the three or four French 
armies who held Spain, he directed his attacks upon 
the army of the centre, retreating when any of the 
others came to its aid, and by dint of masterly general- 
ship and bold enterprise succeeded, after four cam- 
paigns, in driving the French from the country. To 
this result, the co-operation of the Portuguese and of 
the Spanish guerrillas, the revengeful hatred of the 
peasantry towards their tyrannical oppressors, and the 




JJW'i 




EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE AMPHITHEATRE, 
FOUNTAIN OF OIBELES, MADRID. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 31 

drafts from the Spanish armies so frequently made by 
Napoleon for his wars in Central Europe, largely con- 
tributed. Napoleon, loath to lose his hold of the Pen- 
insula, sent Soult, his most trusted general, to stop the 
ingress of the British into France; but the battles of 
the Pyrenees (24th July- 1st August, 1813), and of the 
Nivelle, Orthez and Toulouse, in the beginning of 
1814, brought to a victorious conclusion this long and 
obstinate contest. 

In 1812, a constitution, on the whole liberal, had 
been devised for the country by the Cortes of Cadiz. 1 1 
was abrogated, however, by Ferdinand VII, who 
treated the subjects who had shown such devoted loy- 
alty to him with infamous ingratitude, and obtained 
the aid of France to establish despotism. The reign of 
his daughter, Isabella II, was disturbed by the Carlist 
rebellion in 1834-1839, in which the British aided the 
queen with an army under Sir De Lacy Evans. The 
next event of importance was the contest between Es- 
partero, the regent, and the Queen-dowager Christina, 
for the supreme power during the minority of the 
queen. Espartero was successful from 1840 to 1843, 
but was compelled to flee before O'Donnell and Nar- 
vaez, and was not restored till 1847. Frequent changes 
of ministry, occasional revolts, the banishment of 
Queen Christina (1854), the formation of the O'Don- 
nell ministry (1858), the war with the Moors, the an- 
nexation of St. Domingo in 1861, and the quarrels be- 



32 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

tween Spain and her former colonies, Peru (1864- 1865) 
and Chili (1865), and the ten years' war, together with 
the present war with Cuba, are the most marked events 
in the recent history of Spain. The constituent Cortes 
of 1837 drew up a new constitution, based on that of 
Cadiz, but differing from it in many particulars. In 
1845, another constitution was promulgated by Nar- 
vaez, Duke of Valencia, less liberal than the constitu- 
tion of 1837, and much less liberal than that of 1812. 
By the last constitution, the liberty of the press was 
curtailed, the Senate became a nominated instead of an 
elective body, and the Cortes lost its right of assemb- 
ling by its own authority. 



STOKY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 33 



CHAPTER II. 



CUBA— HISTORICAL. 



Cuba is the largest and most westerly of the West 
India group, lying between the Caribbean sea and the 
Gulf of Mexico, and between latitude 19° 50' and 23° 
10' north, and longitude 74° 7' and 84° 58' west. Its 
west extremity, Cape San Antonio, is distant about 
130 miles from the coast of Yucatan, from which it is 
separated by the channel of Yucatan ; Point Maysi, its 
east end, is forty-eight miles from Hayti, with the 
Windward channel between; the strait of Florida sep- 
arates it on the north from Florida, which is distant 130 
miles from Cape Ycacos, and on the south the island of 
Jamaica lies about eighty- five miles from English point, 
near Cape Cruz. The greatest length from east to 
west is 760 miles; the width varies from twenty to 135 
miles; area, including dependencies, 47,278 square 
miles. In shape, it is long, narrow and slightly curved, 
the convex side being on the north. The entire coast 
line is 630 Spanish leagues in extent, equal to about 
2200 English miles. The shores are generally low, and 
lined with reefs and shallows, extending often from two 
to three miles into the sea, making the approach diffi- 



34 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

cult and dangerous. Within these reefs there is occa- 
sionally a sandy beach, but around the greater part i >f 
the island there is a belt of low land but little above the 
level of the sea and subject to floods and inundations. 
Adjacent to the north coast, which is 306 leagues in 
length, and more regular in outline than that on the 
south, are five islands, six islets, thirty-seven keys and 
521 smaller keys, the principal of which are Romano 
(172 square miles), Guajaba (twenty-one), Coco 
(twenty-eight), Turiguaco (fifty-one), Cruz (fifty-nine), 
Fragoso, Bocas de Anton, Yerde and the keys on the 
Colorado banks. On the south side, the coast line of 
which is 324 leagues long, are, besides the isle of Pines, 
which is forty-three miles long and thirty-five broad, 
six islets, twenty-six keys and 677 small keys; of these, 
Cavo Largo contains thirty-two square miles. Be- 
tween Cape Cruz and Casilda lie the Cayos de las Doce 
Leguas, which form an advanced curve to the coast, 
and, which, were the sea to recede a little, would add 
very considerably to the width of the island. There is 
another similar curve between Jagua and Cape Cor- 
rientes, formed by the Cayos de los Jardines. Most of 
the keys and reefs are of coral or limestone formation, 
and the extreme irregularity of the shore line is due to 
the ease with which rocks of this kind are acted on by 
water. Notwithstanding these peculiarities of the 
coast, Cuba has over 20oports, including sheltered land- 
ings. The principal of these, besides Havana, which 



STORY OF 8PA1A A.\ U CUBA. 35 

has one of the best harbors in the West Indies, are Ba- 
hia Honda, Puerto de Cabanas, Matanzas, Cardenas, 
Sagua la Grande, La Guanaja, Xuevitas, Manati, Alala- 
gueta, Puerto del Padre, Gibara, Banes and Xipe, on 
the north coast, and Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, 
Manzamllo, Canto, Santa Cruz, Saza, Tunas, Casilda, 
Cienfuegos, Cochinos and La Broa, on the south. 

MOUNTAINS. 

Cuba is intersected by a range of mountains, more or 
less broken, which extends through the entire island 
from east to west, and from which the streams flow to 
the sea on each side. At the eastern extremity the moun- 
tains spread over a wider territory than elsewhere, and 
some of them attain the height of 8000 feet. Prom 
Point May si to Cape Cruz the range called Sierra del 
Cobre skirts the southern coast for about 200 miles. 
At the western end the mountains also approach the 
coast. Some geographers have classified this chain 
into six groups; lint it is generally divided into three. 
the eastern, central and western. Among them lie fer- 
tile valleys, some of which are 200 miles long and 
ihirty miles wide. The ranges which give shape to 
these valleys generally give them also their names, as 
Sierra de los Organos, Sierra de Anafe. Sierra de la 
Perdiz. In some places, groups of hills form the mar- 
gin of the island, but for the most part low tracts inter- 



36 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

vene between the central elevation and the shores, and 
in the wet season these are rendered almost impassable 
by the depth of water and the tenacity of the mud. 
From Jagua to Point Sabina, on the southern side, the 
country is a continuous swamp for 160 miles, and there 
are many similar tracts of less extent on the northern 
side. 

RIVERS. 

The rivers are not large, but they are numerous, 
amounting to 260, independent of rivulets and torrents. 
The Canto, the only navigable stream, properly so 
called, rises in the Sierra del Cobre and empties on the 
southern coast, a few miles from Manzanillo, opposite 
the banks of Buena Esperanza. Schooners ascend it 
about sixty miles. Gunboats have passed up during 
the present civil war, and several engagements have 
taken place on its banks. Some other streams are 
navigable for small vessels from eight to twenty miles. 
After the Cauto, the most important rivers are the 
Guines and the Ay or Negro. At one time a canal was 
projected through the Guines river, which would cut 
the island in two. The Ay is remarkable for its falls, 
some of which are nearly 200 feet high, and for its great 
natural bridge, after passing under which its waters 
flow smoothly. There are many mineral springs in the 
island, the principal of which are those known as the 
naths of San Diego ; they are sulphurous and thermal 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 37 

Of similar character are those of Madruga, although 
one of the springs there is said to contain copper. There 
are other sulphur springs at Charco Azul, Santa Maria 
del Rosario, San Miguel and at Santa Fe on the isle of 
Pines; the sulphuro-gaseous springs exist at Cienfue- 
gos and at Ciego Montero. Nitre predominates in the 
springs of Copey, and in those of Cacaqual near Ha- 
vana. The latter was once a frequented bathing place, 
but is now abandoned. 

GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 

The geological formation of Cuba is little known, 
the island having been thoroughly studied only in its 
commercial aspect. Even its topography is not yet ac- 
curately settled. The grand map engraved in Barce- 
lona, although very valuable, cannot always be de- 
pended upon, for it is not the result of triangulation, 
but a compilation of many maps drawn by native sur- 
veyors, added to and completed by the labors of the 
navy. The works of Humboldt still furnish the most 
exact data concerning the geology of Cuba. He 
thinks that the Caribbean was once a mediterranean 
sea, of which the mountain ranges of micaceous schist 
in Cuba, Hayti and Jamaica formed the northern limit. 
The highest peaks of all these islands occur where the 
islands approach each other nearest, which induces the 
belief that the nucleus of these mountain ranges was 



as STONY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

between Cape Tibouron, Havti, Cape Morant, Jamaica, 
and the mountains of Cobre, which overtop the Blue 
mountains of Jamaica. The Caribbean range, after its 
subsidence into the sea, contributed to the formation 
of the islands. In Humboldt's opinion, four-fifths of 
Cuba consists of low lands. The ground is covered 
with secondary and tertiary formations, and is trav- 
ersed by rocks of granite, syenite, gneiss and eupho- 
tide. The gradual decline of the lime formations to- 
wards the north and west indicates marine connection 
of the same rocks with the low lands of the Bahamas. 
Florida and Yucatan. The western part is granitic, 
and as primitive schist and gneiss have been found, it 
is presumed that out of these formations came the gold 
which was so earnestly sought for in the early days of 
the conquest. The central part contains calcareous 
formations of clay, limestone and gres. In the com- 
pact and cavernous layers are contained ferruginous 
veins and the red earth so common in Cuba. These re- 
sult from the decomposition of superficial layers of oxi- 
dized iron with silica and slate, or with the limestone 
above them. Humboldt classified this formation as 
the Guines limestone, and regarded it as the most an- 
cient formation, that in Trinidad and elsewhere being 
more recent. He considered the gypsum of Cuba as 
of secondary and not tertiary formation. He also 
drew a line between the Guines limestone and the con- 
glomerate of the keys and small islands off the south- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 41 

ern coast. Notwithstanding the so-called plutonic 
formations, there are no lavas of recent date. 



METALS AND MINERALS. 

Almost all metals and minerals applicable to industry 
are found in Cuba: gold, silver, iron, copper, quick- 
silver, lead, asphaltum in all its various forms, anti- 
mony, arsenic, magnesia, copperas, loadstone, gypsum, 
red lead, ochre, alum, salt, talc, etc. Gold is found in 
the Saramaguacan and other rivers. Silver occurs at 
San Fernando, Pinar del Rio, Canarse and Yumuri. 
There is copper in almost all the metamorphic rocks 
all over the island. It is found usually in the form of 
copper pyrites, sulphurets and carbonates. Coal fit 
for combustion has not been discovered. Springs and 
mines of bitumen exist in various parts, sometimes in 
a calcareous and sometimes in a serpentine formation. 
The interstices of the serpentines, diorites and eupho- 
tides are generally filled with chapapote, a highly in- 
flamable bitumen, which is used as a substitute for coal. 
There are large deposits of rock salt on both the north- 
ern and southern coasts. Marble and jasper of very 
fine quality are found in many places. In the isle of 
Pines are beautiful colored marbles, and a quarry of 
white marble but little inferior to statuary marble. 
There are immense deposits of pure white sand, suit- 
able for earthenware. 



42 STORY OF SPA IX AND CUBA. 

CLIMATE. 

The climate is warm and dry during the greater part 
of the year, but it is more temperate than in other 
islands of the same latitude, and more equable than in 
many more northern countries. The thermometer 
never rises so high as it sometimes does in New York 
in the hot months, and sunstrokes are unknown. From 
May to October, the heat seldom reaches ioo° F. in any 
part of the island. The highest recorded temperature, 
in observations extending over many years since 1801, 
was 104°. In December and January the air is cooled 
by the northern winds, and the thermometer has occa- 
sionally fallen to the freezing point. The average tem- 
perature of Havana is JJ° ; maximum, 89, minimum, 
50°. The average temperature of the hottest month is 
82°, and of the coldest 72°. In Santiago de Cuba the 
average of the year is 8o° ; of the hottest month, 84° ; of 
the coldest 73°. The topographical position of Cuba 
reduces the four seasons of the year to two, the rainy 
and the dry. In the former, the rain pours down in tor- 
rents almost every day. The rainfall in the island in 
one year has reached 133 inches. The rainy season 
begins in May or June and ends in November, when the 
season known as the "cold" or the "dry" commences. 
The most rain falls in September and October. In 
the dry season the dews are very abundant both at 
night and in the early morning. The average number 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA 43 

of rainy days in a year is 102. The greatest rainfall 
noted in Havana in a year is fifty inches six lines; the 
smallest, thirty-two inches seven lines. In the East- 
ern department it hails frequently between February 
and July. There is no record of snow having fallen in 
Cuba, excepting on December 24-25, 1856, when the 
coldest term ever known on the island was experienced, 
and snow fell near Villa Clara, in the central part of the 
island. Violent thunder storms occur from June to 
September. Earthquakes are seldom felt in the West- 
ern districts, but are frequent in the Eastern, especially 
in the vicinity of Santiago de Cuba. The salubrity of 
the climate is variously estimated. Some writers con- 
sider it favorable to prolonged life, but the most re- 
markable instances of longevity have been found 
among the negro and aboriginal races. Others think 
it unfavorable to health. The yellow fever is justly 
feared by Europeans and those coming from more tem- 
perate climates. The Cuban physicians believe that 
this disease was not known in the island till 1762. It 
is not yet known in the interior, and its appearance at 
many places is recent. It was introduced into Puerto 
Principe only a few years ago by Spanish troops. 

VEGETATION. 

The vegetation of Cuba is very luxuriant. The for- 
ests contain some woods almost as hard as iron. One 



44 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

of them is called the quiebra hacha, the axe-breaker; 
others, such as the jucaro, are imperishable even under 
water. For fine furniture they are unrivaled. The 
marquetry work of the apartment in the Escorial used 
by Philip II was made of these woods. Few of these 
varieties are found excepting in the West India islands, 
but their value was long ago appreciated by the Span- 
ish government, and led to the establishment of ship- 
building" in the island as early as the beginning of the 
eighteenth century. From 1724 to 1796, Havana was 
the great nursery of the Spanish navy, but the work 
was finally abandoned, because it took employment 
from the mother country. Lignum vitae and various 
kinds of dye woods, ebony, rosewood, mahogany, ce- 
dar, fustic, lancewood and many woods suitable for 
building purposes, such as acana, jocuma, etc., abound. 
The cedar furnishes the material of the cigar boxes. 
The cocoanut palm, the palma real, and the African 
palm (the Portuguese Parra counted forty-one varie- 
ties of the palm tree), the sour orange and the lemon 
are indigenous. Humboldt says: "We might believe 
that the entire island was originally a forest of palms 
and wild lime and orange trees. These last, which 
have a small fruit, are probably anterior to the arrival 
of the Europeans, who carried there the agrumi of the 
gardens, which rarely exceed ten or fifteen feet in 
height." The fruits are those common to the tropics. 
The pineapple is indigenous. Of the alimentary 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 45 

plants, the banana is one of the most important. When 
the island was discovered, there were six varieties of 
the sweet potato cultivated by the natives, as well as 
the yuca or cassava, and Indian corn. 

FORESTS. 

Though the forests are extensive and almost impen- 
etrable, they are inhabited by no wild animals larger 
than the wild dogs, which are occasionally met with. 
They resemble wolves both in appearance and habits, 
and are very destructive to young cattle and poultry. 
They sprung from the domestic European dog, the 
change in their size, appearance and habits having 
been effected by their wild life through many genera- 
tions. The jutia is an animal of the size of the musk- 
rat, and resembles in its habits the porcupine and the 
raccoon of the United States, living in trees and feeding 
on leaves and fruits. More than 200 species of indige- 
nous birds, exclusive of the domesticated kinds, are 
known, many of them remarkable for the beauty of 
their plumage. Of migratory birds, the ducks of Flor- 
ida, or del norte, are the most numerous. The indige- 
nous huyuyo is a miniature of the English duck, and is 
of splendid plumage. Birds of prey are few. The list 
of fishes, according to Poey, contains 641 species. Oys- 
ters and other small shellfish are numerous, but of in- 
ferior quality compared with those of more northern 



4G STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

latitudes. The reefs and shallows abound in turtle, 
which the Indians bred in large enclosures on the coast 
to supply their lack of meat ; they dried their fish, and 
thus preserved it for a long time. The alligator, cay- 
man and ignana are common. There are few snakes: 
the maja, the largest, sometimes twelve or fourteen 
feet long, is harmless; the juba, about six feet long, is 
venomous. The insects are numerous, but none are 
properly venomous. The bite of the tarantula pro- 
duces fever, but the scorpion is less poisonous than that 
of Europe. Among the noxious insects are the mos- 
quito, of which there are twelve varieties; the sand-fly; 
the nigua or jigger; the anobium bibliotecarium, which 
destroys not only books, but every article of vegetable 
origin, boring through the obstacle which covers it, 
and the bibijagua, an ant which destroys all living veg- 
etable matter. The latter afforded to the Indians a de- 
licious morsel in its honeycomb of eggs. The varie- 
ties of the butterfly are estimated at 300, and there are 
as many kinds of flies. The firefly is celebrated for its 
jewel-like beauty, and is often worn by ladies to orna- 
ment their dresses. The Florida bee, which is exotic, 
is similar to the European variety. The indigenous 
bee is much smaller than the Florida bee, and its honey 
is whiter, but its wax is almost black. 

THE INHABITANTS. 

The inhabitants of Cuba are mostly of Spanish and 




M 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 41) 

of African descent. For a time after the conquest in 
151 1, none but Castilians were allowed to settle there, 
but after the prohibition was removed, colonists from 
all the provinces, and even from the Canary islands, 
came thither. All these classes of Spaniards are now 
represented in the island. The Biscayans hire out as 
mechanics; the Catalans, who are numerous, devote 
themselves to hard labor; the Asturians, Castilians and 
Andalusians occupy clerkships and pursue the learned 
professions. In the Eastern department traces still 
exist of the French emigration from Santo Domingo, 
and in Cardenas the influence of North Americans is 
visible even in the shape of the buildings. The Ger- 
mans in Havana devote themselves to commerce, and 
they speak Spanish better than most foreigners. The 
offspring of foreigners, whether black or white, are 
called Creoles; the children of Creoles are called riollos. 
Of the aborigines, some families still exist in the East- 
ern department, as at Caney, near Santiago. They 
intermarry like the Jews, and their appearance is, as 
Columbus described it, "not as dark as Canary Island- 
ers." The whites consist principally of Spaniards and 
Creoles, whom political hatred keeps ever apart; the 
hatred is not so much personal as collective, on ac- 
count of their class relations. The Creoles are dis- 
tinguished by their intelligence, conscientiousness and 
hospitality. They own sugar estates, houses and 
other real estate, while the Spaniards, who are only oc- 



50 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

casionally planters, monopolize most of the trade. The 
retail trade is almost entirely carried on by Catalans, so 
much so that in the interior all Spaniards are known as 
Catalans. All the offices are in the hands of Spaniards, 
being the rewards generally of political services. Of 
the negroes, those who speak Spanish are called ladi- 
nos; those who do not, bozales. Africans are called 
negros de nacion, and their progeny become criollos. 
The cross of a white man with a black woman, and vice 
versa, produces a mulatto; the offspring of a mulatto 
and a black, a chino; all others are known as quad- 
roons. All the numerical reports of the population 
have been incomplete, the slaves in particular having 
been generally underestimated. 

Between 1817 and 1842, according to English statis- 
tical writers, who were furnished the data from their 
consulates, 335,000 slaves were imported; a greater 
number in twenty-five years than in the thirty-one 
years when the trade was legalized. Between 1842 and 
1852, no fewer than 45,000 negroes were imported. 
The "mixed commission," presided over by an English 
judge, had little effect in suppressing the traffic. A 
slaver was occasionally captured, and, if a lawful prize, 
she was retained as such by her captors; but her slaves 
were apprenticed, under the name of emancipados, in 
the planters for terms of eight, ten and fifteen years, 
according to their ages. At a later period they were 
openly traded by the government. The emancipados 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 51 

were no better off than the slaves. When they went 
into the interior they were reported as dead, and the 
names of old and infirm slaves whom they substituted 
were given to them. The law concerning slavery, 
passed June 23, 1870, declares free all born after its 
passage and all who had attained at that time the age 
of sixty ; but so determined has been the opposition of 
the slave traders that the government has not been 
able to enforce it. Chinese were first brought under 
contract from Amoy in 1847 by the royal society of 
public works, and were given out for the proportionate 
cost of their transportation. Afterward the business 
was converted into a new slave trade by companies 
and private persons, who raised the prices of importa- 
tions. Over 50,000 had been brought in up to 1873, 
and the records of the courts afford abundant proof of 
the oppression and violence of which they are the vic- 
tims. When the importation had reached 33,000, it 
was calculated that the annual mortality was 17 per 
cent. Indians from Yucatan were also imported at 
one time under contract, but the government of Mex- 
ico prohibited it by enactment, partly in consequence 
of a regulation passed in Havana authorizing flogging 
as a punishment. 

Negro slavery in the island still lingered after the 
importation of negroes had ceased. Finally, in 1870, 
a law was enacted by the Spanish Cortes providing 
that all unborn children of slaves should be free, and 



52 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

all ovei sixty years should be manumitted. In 1886, 
however, the emancipation was made universal. 

POPULATION. 

The population of the island at the present time is 
not exactly known, but is usually placed at 1,600,000. 
Of this number, about 1,000,000 are whites, between 
400,000 and 500,00c are blacks, and the rest coolies 
and mixed races. 

The census which is considered the most reliable is 
that published over eight years ago, December 31, 
1887, which is as follows: 

Province of Santiago de Cuba, 157,980 whites, 114,- 
339 colored; total, 272,319. 

Province of Puerto Principe, 53,232 whites, 13,557 
colored; total, 66,789. 

Province of Santa Clara, 244,345 whites, 109,777 
colored; total, 354,122. 

Province of Matanzas, 143,169 whites, 116,401 col- 
ored; total, 259,570. 

Province of Havana, 344,417 whites, 107,511 col- 
ored; total, 451,928. 

Province of Pinar del Rio, 167,160 whites, 58,731 
colored; total, 225,891 

This makes a grand total of 1,110,303 whites, 520,- 
316 colored, and a total of both combined of 1,630.619, 



STORY OF SPAIN AXD CUBA. 53 

showing, therefore, a percentage of about 79 of whites 
to 21 of colored. 

COMMERCE. 

Under the provisions of the McKinley Tariff Law 
for Reciprocity treaties, Mr. Blaine, then Secretary of 
State, negotiated a treaty with Spain, under which our 
trade with the island greatly increased. During 1S93, 
under the operations of this law, we sold Cuba mer- 
chandise to the value of $24,157,698. Prior to the 
treaty, our exports were only about half this sum, and, 
upon its abrogation by the Wilson law, it fell back to its 
old condition. The total exports of Cuba amount to 
about $90,000,000 a year, of which we take about $75,- 
000,000 worth. In 1893, we bought of tobacco $9,- 
000,000; cigars and cigarettes, $2,750,000; bananas, 
$1,650,000; cocoanuts, $150,000; other fruits, $550,- 
000; molasses, $1,000,000; sugar, $60,607,000; cedar, 
mahogany and other woods, $1,000,000; iron ore, 
$642,000. Our exports to Cuba consist mostly of 
wheat, flour, meat products and lard; wire fence, lum- 
ber, petroleum, machinery and manufactures of iron. 

The average annual sugar product of the island is 
900,000 tons, of which the United States takes 700,000 
tons. The average annual export of tobacco is 200,- 
000 bales, and of cigars 200,000,000. The island has 
about 1000 miles of railroad, connectincf Havana with 



54 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

the other principal cities and the most extensive plan- 
tations. 

PRINCIPAL CITIES OF CUBA. 
HAVANA 

It was a bright forenoon when I first saw Havana 
from the deck of the steamer as we entered the harbor. 
It was a picture never to be forgotten; on the left, the 
gray and solemn Morro and the fortress Cabanas, with 
its parapet stretching for 800 feet along the bay; on 
the right was the cross-shaped fort of La Punta. Be- 
fore us spread out the bay like a gigantic green and 
shimmering clover leaf, and on the right, as the stem 
of the trefoil curved out into its western leaf, lay the 
grandest seaport mart of the Western world, save one. 

It would be indeed an unimaginative memory' that 
could forget at such a moment that here in this road- 
stead Hawkins and Drake had dropped anchor; from 
here De Soto had sailed away with his brave company 
to a grave in the Mississippi, and up the same channel 
the good ship San Lorenzo had brought the ashes of 
Columbus, in 1794, to their resting place in the Ca- 
thedral of the Society of Jesus. 

The entrance to the bay is over 900 feet wide and 
4200 feet long. The arm which spreads out south of 
the city is called El Fondo, or the Ray of Atares. On 
its shore stands a fort of the latter name built in 1763, 



-**c 



1 - . 




STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA 57 

guarding the southern approaches to the city The 
eastern arm is called Regla, and the central arm Guas- 
sabacoa. The bay altogether can accommodate iooo 
ships. A fort on an eminence to the west of the city, 
at the terminus of the Great Boulevard, the Paseo Mili- 
tar, called Castillo Principe, completes the defenses 
The old walls, begun about 1665, and completed in the 
eighteenth century, were demolished in 1863, and only 
enough of the structure now remains to exhibit to 
travelers. Still, the city is divided into the part within 
and the part without the walls. The old, or intramu- 
ral city, is densely built, with streets so narrow as 
scarcely to allow the 6000 carriages of which the Ha- 
vanese boast to pass each other. The sidewalks have 
the same objection for pedestrians. The city is built 
of stone, and the houses are covered with stucco, and 
painted yellow, red, green and blue, with a profusion of 
white marble trimmings. The early settlers coming 
from Southern Spain, the style is naturally Moresque. 
The new quarter of the city is built on as liberal a 
scale as Paris, with broad boulevards, plazas and prom- 
enades Indeed, the Havanese will not listen to the 
comparison of his city with any other, except the 
French capital. There are churches numerous and 
magnificent, hotels that are palatial, and theatres that 
are second to none on the Continent. There are also 
hospitals, colleges, art schools and other modern insti- 
tutions, but above all are the barracks and garrisons, 



58 STORY OF SPA IX AXD CUBA 

impressing the visitor all the time with a sense of ap- 
prehension of something about to happen. The pal- 
ace of the Governor-General is a massive yellow build- 
ing, square, flat roofed, with its courtyard and palms, 
like all the rest of the structures. 

In spite of three-quarters of a century of almost con- 
stant internal turmoil, the commerce of Havana has 
grown to vast proportions; an average of about 2000 
vessels trading there each year in ordinary times. It 
is the greatest sugar and tobacco market in the world. 
The factories of the city make for export some 200,- 
000,000 cigars annually under normal conditions. 
Cigar and cigarette making is the chief industry now, 
although in former times there was a great navy-yard 
on the bay, where, between 1726 and 1796, 114 ships- 
of-the-line were built to convoy the fleet carrying treas- 
ure home from Mexico. The establishment was closed 
at the last-named date, because the Spanish shipbuild- 
ers demanded that the work be done in Spain. The 
population has more than trebled during the present 
century, and now numbers about 300,000. 

SANTIAGO DE CUBA. 

Santiago de Cuba, the original capital of the island, 
is the principal city of the southeastern part today, 
having a population of about 30,000. It is located on 
a fine bay opening to the south, and the city rises from 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 59 

the water up the face of a hill about 150 feet in height. 
The harbor has been allowed to fill up with silt, until 
vessels of a draft of over fourteen feet cannot approach 
the wharf. The city boasts the largest cathedral in 
Cuba, and is an important shipping place for mahog- 
any, ores, tobacco and cigars, while sugar comprises 
about two-thirds of its commerce. Its exports in 
1883 amounted to nearly $4,000,000. It has few in- 
dustries besides cigar-making, doing a little in tan- 
ning and soap boiling. 

MATANZAS. 

Next after Havana in importance is the beautiful city 
of Matanzas, sixty miles to the east. It is located on 
the north coast, where it has a spacious harbor, of re- 
cent years, unfortunately, allowed to fill up consider- 
ably. Like all else in Cuba, it is smitten with the mil- 
dew of Spain's decline. The city lies between two 
rivers, something like Charleston, S. C. On one side 
is the Rio de San Juan, and on the other the Yumuri. 
It is well built, and resembles Havana very much in its 
architecture. It has a splendid plaza, upon one side 
of which stands the official residence of the governor 
of the province. It has one of the finest theatres in 
Cuba, and probably the best educational institution in 
the West Indies. In 1603, 200 years after Columbus 
sailed by its site, the city was founded by a party of 
immigrants from the Canary Tsles. It has a population 



<;o STORY OF SPAIN AM) CUBA. 

of some 30,000 Close by the city is one of the most 
striking natural curiosities of the island, the Valley of 
the Yumuri, and within two miles of the city are situ- 
ated also the famous Caves of Bellamar, about three 
miles in extent, which, though not so grand as some of 
the mighty caverns in other parts of the world, are ac- 
knowledged to contain the most beautiful chambers of 
natural crystal known anywhere. 

PUERTO PRINCIPE. 

Puerto Principe was originally founded on the north 
coast, early in the sixteenth century, by Velasquez, 
but it has been moved several times, until it is now in 
the interior. Its port is the Bay of Nuevitas, a broad 
harbor, approached by a narrow entrance, six miles 
long. The city is the seat of the province of the same 
name, and has about 45,000 inhabitants. In 1800 it 
was for a time the centre of administration for the 
entire Spanish West Indies, owing to the loss of San 
Domingo; but it has waned in importance. It is con- 
nected with the capital by a railway. 

CARDENAS. 

Cardenas, on the northern coast, is 105 miles east of 
Havana, and is one of the new cities of the island, hav- 
ing been founded onlv in 1828. It is a sugar mart, ex- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 61 

porting about 90,000 tons in good times. It has a 
population of about 12,000. 



INDUSTRY. 

Productive industry in Cuba is devoted mainly to 
sugar and tobacco-raising. General agriculture was 
early hampered by many obstacles, the greatest of 
which was the scarcity of labor. The system of free 
breeding of cattle interfered much with cultivation of 
the soil. This system, which was instituted by Charles 
V, gave the common use of the lands for pasturage 
after the crops had been gathered. In 1555 this law 
was modified, and many favors and privileges were 
granted to agriculturists. Loans of money ($4000 to 
persons of known probity) were made by the govern- 
ment to those who devoted themselves to the raising 
of sugar-cane, and the sale of sugar estates for debt was 
prohibited. The most noteworthy concession was the 
one authorizing the importation of 1000 negro slaves. 
Special privileges were afterward granted to the culti- 
vators of coffee, indigo and other productions. The 
creation of the consulado (board of trade, public works 
and agriculture) of Havana, and of the "economical 
society of the friends of the country," contributed to 
the progress of agriculture. The reports of the royal 
society and the Papel periodico (1700). which took the 
place of the Gaceta (1763), directed the industry of the 



62 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

island into new channels; and the emigration from 
Santo Domingo and the Continent added to its pros- 
perity. But general agriculture has given place 
mostly to sugar-making. The differential duties im- 
posed by foreign nations as an offset to the duties col- 
lected in Cuba reduced the production of coffee to little 
more than enough for local consumption. The only 
agricultural product which has not been superseded 
by sugar as a chief article raised for export is tobaco >. 
Cotton is cultivated, but not to any extent compared 
with the great staples. The mulberry tree grows to 
perfection, and is raised for silkworms. These worms 
were introduced into Cuba by Don P. Alejandro Au- 
ber, who affirms that they are more prolific and more 
productive than anywhere else in the world. The cac- 
tus, or cochineal fig tree, has been the subject of suc- 
cessful experiments by the economical society. Cacao 
is cultivated in Remedios on a small scale; and Indian 
corn, bananas and other produce called in Cuba grains 
and viandas, are raised in quantities sufficient for home 
consumption. The only fruits raised for export are 
oranges and pineapples. The tobacco known all over 
the world as Havana tobacco is grown on the southern 
coast at the extreme western end of the island, on a 
strip of country called the Vuelta Abajo, extending 
from Rio Hondo to Cuyaguateje and the river Mantua. 
The tract is of an irregular shape, about eighty miles 
long by twenty wide. Next in value to the tobacco of 







II 






STORY OF SPAIN AXD CUBA. 65 

the Vuelta Abajo is that of Mayari, which grows over 
an extent of fifty-four miles from Mayari to Holguin. 
The tobacco of outlying districts is of good quality all 
over the island, and equal to any produced in Hayti or 
on the banks of the Magdalena in Columbia. A cabal- 
leria (thirty-three acres) of land produces on an aver- 
age the following crops: Sugar, 75,000 pounds; coffee, 
12,500 pounds; tobacco, 9000 pounds; cacao, 25,000 
pounds; cotton, 6000 pounds; indigo, 1500 pounds; 
corn, 20,000 pounds; rice, 50,000 pounds; sago, 33, ■ 
000 pounds; bananas, 2000 bunches; yuca, 50,000 
pounds. 

Cattle-raising is largely carried on, and although it 
does not fully supply the demand, it represents a large 
amount of capital. The alternate system of pasturage 
has been recently adopted, but the plan of natural pas- 
turage finds most favor. Of late years, very good 
stock, including Durham and Devonshire bulls, has 
been imported into Camaguey, but the insurrection has 
swept them away. The establishment of artificial pas- 
tures (potreros), and the importation of good stock, 
have tended to improve the breed of cattle. The grass 
chiefly sown in the artificial pastures is the Tara grass, 
which has lately been introduced. The 3285 breeding 
estates produce annually $5, 286,180. Cuba contains 
1,059,432 caballerias, equal to about 35,000,000 
acres of land, distributed as follows: In agricul- 
ture proper, 80,682; in barren lands, 225,195 ; in forests, 



66 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

466,331; in natural pastures, 262,620; in artificial pas- 
tures, 24,604 — total, 1,059,432. 

The mineral productions of Cuba have been hitherto 
but little developed. 

EDUCATION. 

The system of education in Cuba originally con- 
formed to that of Spain, but it has been modified from 
time to time according to the personal characters 1 >i 
the rulers of the island. Under the House of Austria, 
laws were passed authorizing the creation of universi- 
ties in the Indies. The University of Havana was es- 
tablished in 1722 by a pontifical bull of Innocent 
XIII, which was approved by the Spanish govern- 
ment, January 5, 1729. There had been classes many 
years before in the convent of the Franciscans in Ha- 
vana, where Latin, philosophy and theology were 
taught, but no degrees were conferred. Government 
had no direct supervision of education till 1842. In 
that year the Dominican friars ceased to govern the 
"Royal and Pontifical University." which was declared 
a national establishment, under the name of "Literary 
University." The governor-general nominated the 
professors, who were subsequently approved by the 
supreme government. The study of the natural 
sciences was introduced at that date. General Concha, 
in connection with the professors, drew up a complete 
plan of public education; but subsequently, in 1863, 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 67 

when he was minister, the classes in philosophy were 
ordered to be suppressed, and the system was assimi- 
lated to that of Spain. Since then philosophical and 
transcendental studies have been confined within very 
narrow limits; but the faculties in the ecclesiastical 
seminaries and in the colleges of the religious orders 
have been increased. The expenses of education in 
the higher branches are defrayed from the public reve- 
nues, according to official statements. The town coun- 
cils pay the expenses of primary education. The 
amount disbursed for educational purposes in 1866 was 
as follows: Primary schools, $1,131,354; grammar 
schools, $459,056; collegiate seminaries, $42,000; pro- 
fessional education, $73,619; university education, 
$71,600 — total, $1,777,729. There are 209 public 
schools on the island, of which ninety-three are for 
girls, and 245 private schools. Two-thirds of the 
whole receive education free. The proportion of those 
who can read and write, exclusive of Chinese, is: White 
males, 45 per cent.; white females, 35 per cent; colored 
males, 5 per cent.; colored females, 6 per cent. The 
number of newspapers, political and literary, pub- 
lished in 1868 was thirty-nine, distributed as follows: 
In Havana, twenty-one; in Santiago de Cuba, five; in 
Matanzas, three ; in Cienfuegos, Villa Clara and Santo 
Espiritu, two each; in Cardenas, Remedios, Trinidad 
and Puerto Principe, one each In 1869, during the 
few days of the liberty of the press granted by General 



08 /STOAT OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

Dulce, forty new journals were started in Havana 
alone; but of many of these one number only was is- 
sued. Of the Verdad ("Truth"), which, from its form 
and matter might aspire to the rank of a political news- 
paper, three numbers appeared and 14000 copies were 
sold each day, an unprecedented occurrence in Ha- 
vana. 

LITERATURE. 

The history of literature in Cuba begins with the re- 
vival of belles-lettres in the time of Charles III. The 
prominent names in general literature in the eighteenth 
century are Francisco de Arango and Tomas Romay ; 
a part of the works of the latter belong to the next cen- 
tury. In the nineteenth century figure Frederico de 
Armas, Anastasio Carrillo, Jose de Frias, Manuel Cos- 
tales, Ramon Zambrana and Gaspar Betancourt, bet- 
ter known as El Lugareno. The Cuban poets of the 
eighteenth century are Rubalcaba, of Santiago de 
Cuba, and Manuel Zequicha, of Havana; of this cen- 
tury, Jose M. Heredia, Placido, Milanes and many 
others. Of sacred writers and moralists, T. Barea, 
Rafael de Castillo y Sucre, Francisco del Cristo, Felix 
Veranes, Jose Agustin Caballero and Father Gonzales 
belong to the last century; in the present century, Fe- 
lix Varela, Father Oliva and Friar Remigio Cernadns 
are the most distinguished. In philosophy, the same 
Father Caballero was prominent in the eighteenth cen- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA, 69 

tury; in the present, the principal writers are Felix 
Varela, professor of modern philosophy in Cuba and 
in many oilier parts of Spanish America, and formerly 
vicar apostolic of New York; Jose de la Lnz Caballero, 
and Jose Gonzales del Valle. As jurisconsults, the 
lights of the eighteenth century are Francisco Conde, 
Pedro Ayala and Rafael Gonzales; of the nineteenth, 
Francisco de Armas, Jose A. Govantes, Anacleto Ber- 
mudez, Jose Antonio Cintra, Isidro Carbonell and 
many others. The historians of the eighteenth cen- 
tury are Arrati and Urrutia; of the nineteenth. A. \ al- 
dez, Jose Arango y Castillo and the writers of the his- 
torical bureau of the economical society. 1 )ramatic 
literature was little cultivated in the last century. The 
onlv work which was often represented on the stage 
was the Principe jardinero, by Father Jose Rodriguez 
(a) Capacho, who was also a poet and a satirical writer. 
In this century, the poet Milanes produced the Conde 
de Alarcon. Some Furopean writers resident in Cuba 
have enriched her litreature, such as Pablo Boloix, 
Pedro A. Auber, Father Velez and others. In the fine 
arts, Yermay and Perouani have been distinguished. 

GOVERNMENT. 

Cuba, with the islands dependent upon it, forms the 
captain-generalcy of La Habana. which is subject in 
all branches of the administration to one authority, the 



70 8T0RT OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

representative of the Spanish sovereignty, who has the 
unlimited powers of a general in time of war, and is ac- 
countable only to the home government, by which he 
is appointed. He is assisted by an administrative 
council, also chosen by the supreme government, 
whose opinion is taken in certain cases, chiefly in mat- 
ters of finance. The division of the island is sixfold: 
civil, military, naval, fiscal, judicial, and ecclesiastical. 
In its civil or political aspect the whole island is under 
the command of a governor-in-chief, who is always 
the captain-general, and is divided into five governor- 
ships, as follows: La Habana, Matanzas, the Central 
or Puerto Principe, the Eastern or Santiago de Cuba, 
and the Western. Each of these departments is in 
charge of a lieutenant-governor, and they are subdi- 
vided into thirty-three political districts. The captain- 
general has also military command of the entire island. 
The military divisions are three: the Western, Central. 
and Eastern, the respective capitals of which are Ha- 
vana, Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba. ( )f the 
first, the captain-general has the sole charge: the sec- 
ond is commanded by the governor of Puerto Principe; 
the third by the governor of Santiago de Cuba. These 
departments are subdivided into eight comandancias 
generales, viz: Pinar del Rio, Havana, Matanzas. San- 
ta Clara, Moron. El Principe, Holguin and Cuba. The 
naval government is in charge of a commandant-gen- 
eral, whose headquarters are in Havana. It is di- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 73 

vided into five provinces: Havana, San Juan de los Re- 
medios, Nuevitas, Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos. 
These are subdivided into subdelegaciones. Each 
province is under the command of an adjutant (ayu- 
dante), and each subdelegation of an alcalde de mar. 
The fiscal administration consists of a central bureau 
of taxes and seven local districts, which are Pinar del 
Rio, Havana, Matanzas, Santa Clara, Trinidad, Puerto 
Principe and Santiago de Cuba. The captain-general 
is the general superintendent of finance. Judicially. 
the island is divided into two audiencias: the pretorial 
court of Havana, which comprises the western part, 
including Remedios and Santo Espiritu; and that of 
Santiago de Cuba, the eastern portion. These are 
subdivided into twenty-five judicial districts, each of 
which is in charge of a local judge or justice of the 
peace. The ecclesiastical divisions are two, the East- 
ern diocese, which is ruled by the Archbishop of San- 
tiago de Cuba, and the Western, by the Bishop of Ha- 
vana. They are reciprocally courts of appeal, each 
from the other's decrees. The revenues are derived 
from two sources, maritime and inland. The former 
comprise customs and lighthouse dues, ship visits, etc. ; 
the latter, direct and indirect taxes upon almost every- 
thing assessable, and lotteries. 

Tt was stated in the Spanish Cortes, October 27. 
1871, that the cost of the war during the preceding 
year had been $62,000,000, and that the colonial deficit 



74 STORY OF SPAIN AXD CI BA. 

for the same period was $11,000,000. Even in time of 
peace the greater part of the revenue is absorbed by 
the expenses of the army and navy. In ordinary times 
there are stationed in Cuba, besides the disciplined 
militia and the militia of Ferdinand \ LI, 20,000 regular 
troops, who are either drafted or enlisted by bounty in 
Spain. This force has been much increased since the 
breaking out of the war. According to official data 
published in Madrid in 1870, the regular troops in 
Cuba amounted to 23,000, the expeditionary corps to 
33,000, and the militia in active service to 4000, mak- 
ing a total in the field of 60,000. Besides these, there 
were 70,000 volunteers in garrison, who seldom went 
into the field. The Spanish navy in the Antilles is never 
less than from twenty-five to thirty vessels, carrying 
over 200 guns and 3000 men. Since the outbreak of 
the war, thirty light-draft gunboats, built in the United 
States, have been added to this fleet, to be used in 
guarding the coasts against filibustering expeditions, 
and other vessels for a similar purpose have been pur- 
chased as late as 1873. The active military force has 
been considerably decreased by sickness and by the 
casualties of war, but partial reinforcements from Spain 
are continually arriving. 

ROADS. 

Internal communication was formerly very difficult 
on account of the want of good roads, but has much 



STORY OF SPA IX AND CUBA. 75 

improved since the introduction of railways, which 
were used in Cuba before they were in any other Span- 
ish-speaking country, the first, that from Havana to 
Guines, having been opened in 1837. 

DISCOVERY. 

Cuba was discovered by Columbus, October 28, 
1492. It is generally thought that he entered the 
island near Nuevitas, on the northern coast, by the 
river Maximo. He believed that it was a part of the 
continent, but later, in a letter to Sanchez, he accepted 
the opinion of the Indians and called it an island. ( )n 
his return to Cuba, however, he reaffirmed his previous 
belief, and had a report drawn up and published, in 
order that his opinion might be set down in due form. 
He gave to his new discovery the name of Juana, in 
honor of Prince Juan, the heir of his royal patrons. It 
was subsequently called Fernandina, after the death of 
Ferdinand, and still later Santiago and Ave Maria; 
but none of these names supplanted that of Cuba, by 
which it was known to the natives. The island was 
thickly populated by a docile race of Indians, who ex- 
tended to all the large West India islands and the Ba- 
hamas. They called themselves by the general name 
of Tamos, the Good, but the Cubans were known spe- 
cifically as Ciboneyes. In 151 1, Diego Velasquez, 
who had been appointed adelantado of Cuba by Diego 



71! STORY OF SPAIN I \ /> CUBA. 

Columbus, overran the island with 300 men. The na- 
tives, unable to cope with the invaders, were easily sub- 
dued, and Hatuey, their chief, who fell into the hands 
of the Spaniards, was burned at the stake near the pres- 
ent town of Vara. Baracoa, at the eastern end of the 
island, was founded at this time, and in 1514 Santiago, 
which was made the capital, and Trinidad ori the south- 
ern coast. 

In the same year, a place on the southern coast, at 
the mouth of the river Ojicajinal, was settled and called 
San Cristobal de la Habana; but the name was trans- 
ferred to a new site on the northern coast, near where 
the river Marianao falls into the sea, and still later, in 
1 5 19, to the present locality. 

Velasquez also founded Bayamo, Puerto Principe 
and Santo Espiritu. The natives were soon brought 
into complete subjection, and were allotted to the set- 
tlers as encomiendas, in gangs of about 300 to each 
Spaniard, who employed them in the cultivation of the 
soil, principally in the growing of sugar-cane. They 
disappeared so rapidly under the cruel treatment which 
they received that in 1553 there were but few left. As 
early as 1534 the officials applied to the emperor for 
"7000 negroes, that they might become inured to labor 
before the Indians ceased to exist." With the virtual 
extinction of the natives, the agriculture of the island 
declined, and it became mainly a pastoral country. Tn 
1537, Diego Columbus relinquished by agreement his 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 77 

right to appoint the government for Cuba, and the king- 
made Hernando de Soto captain-general. The audi- 
encia (supreme court), which had been organized in 
Santo Domingo for the administration of justice, was 
soon transferred to Cuba (Puerto Principe), and a law- 
was passed appointing the captain-general the presi- 
dent of the court. The island was governed as one 
department up to 1607, when it was divided into two. 
All powers, civil and military, were vested in the cap- 
tain-general, who resided at Santiago, which was the 
capital till [552, when Angulo removed it to Havana. 
All the governors had the title of captain-general, al- 
though many of them were civilians, and their substi- 
tutes were called lieutenants-general. In the early 
days the discovery of Mexico and other countries 
drained the island of its working population, and the 
government passed a law imposing the penalty oi 
death on all who left. Other laws prohibited all for- 
eigners, and even Spanish subjects not natives of Cas- 
tile, from trading with the island or settling in it. The 
increase of population was therefore slow; the intro- 
duction of negroes was gradual, and growth was alm< >st 
stopped. After the capture of Jamaica by the English 
in 1655, smuggling was largely carried on. On the 
arrival of Governor-general Yaldez in the latter part of 
the seventeenth century it was discovered that nearly 
all the Havanese were guilty of the crime of rescate, or 
illicit trading, the penalty of which was death. At the 



78 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

suggestion of Valdez, a ship was freighted with pres- 
ents for the king and sent to Spain, with a petition for 
pardon, which was granted. Havana was destroyed 
by the French twice in the sixteenth century. In 1592 
it received the title of city. During this century, mon- 
astic institutions were introduced into Cuba, and in 
1576 the inquisition sent a delegate thither. In 163 1 
there were six militia companies, armed with arque- 
buses and crossbows. Epidemics carried off main of 
the inhabitants in 1648 and 1654. The disease was 
called putrid fever, but many suspect it to have been 
yellow fever. The people of Cuba took sides in the 
dissentions that ensued on the death of Charles 111, 
but through the efforts of Bishop Evelino de Compos- 
tela bloodshed was prevented and a peaceful triumph 
obtained for the partisans of Philip V. In 171 7, a re- 
volt broke out in consequence of the attempt to estab- 
lish a tobacco monopoly. Governor Raja was obliged 
to flee, but the trouble was quelled and the factory set 
up; it continued until the beginning of the present cen- 
tury, when it was suppressed by Arango. In 1723. a 
second uprising took place, induced by oppressive 
government, and twelve of those implicated were 
hanged by the captain-general Guazo. Printing was 
introduced about this time. Between 1724 and 1747, 
many ships were built at Havana, comprising six ships 
of the line, twenty-one of seventy to eighty guns each, 
twenty-six of fifty to sixty guns, fourteen frigates of 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 81 

thirty to forty guns, and fifty-eight smaller vessels; in 
all, 125 vessels, carrying 4000 guns. Since the latter 
date there has been little shipbuilding there. During 
the present century the machinery of one steamer, the 
Sagua, was built at Sagua la Grande, and one war 
steamer and one merchant steamer were built in Ha- 
vana. In 1762 Havana was taken by an English fleet 
and army under Lord Albemarle. The English re- 
tained the island only until July of the following year, 
but during that time over 900 loaded vessels entered 
the port of Havana, more than all the previous entries 
since the discovery. Prior to this period, 60,000 
slaves had been imported. From 1763 to 1789, the 
importation was about 1000 a year. In the latter year 
the Spanish slave code was promulgated, and the slave 
trade, previously a monopoly, was made free, after 
which importations increased largely. In 1763, the 
Gaceta cle la Habana was started, and a postorfice de- 
partment was established. In 1767, the Jesuits were 
expelled from Cuba, as from the rest of the Spanish 
dominions. Under the administration of Las Casas, 
which began in 1700, Cuba made rapid progress in 
commercial prosperity and in public improvements. 
He developed all branches of industry, fostered the pa- 
triotic societies and permitted the establishment of 
newspapers. By his judicious government the tran- 
quility of the island was maintained during the time of 
the revolution in Santo Domingo. In 1808, when the 



S2 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

royal family of Spain was deposed by Napoleon, the 
Cubans declared for the crown, and proved their loy- 
alty by numerous voluntary subscriptions, by the pub- 
lication of vehement pamphlets and by sending their 
sons to tight. But scarcely any of the promises made 
to them were fulfilled. Since that time the island has 
been ruled by a succession of captains-general from 
Spain, some of whom have tried to advance the inter- 
ests of the people, but the most of whom have done 
little else than make fortunes for themselves. The 
government has been generally of the most oppres- 
sive character, and if the island has advanced in pros- 
perity, it has been in spite of all the obstacles which 
mismanagement could invent. In 1825. the royal or- 
der of the omnimodas was sent to Cuba, but it was not 
ratified till 1836; it empowered the captain-general to 
rule at all times as if the island were in a state of siege. 
In March of the latter year a permanent military com- 
mission was established, which took cognizance of 
even ordinary offenses, but particularly of all offenses 
involving dislovalty. Previous to 1810, no one had 
ever been executed in Cuba for a political offense. In 
that year, Jose R. Aleman, an emissary of Joseph Bo- 
naparte, was hanged in Havana. In the years 1845 to 
1847, ^ ie slave trade was nearly brought to an end 
through the energy of Captain-General Yaldez. But 
the increased consumption of sugar in dreat Britain, 
in consequence of the reduction of duty, and the plac- 



STORY OF SPA IX AND CUBA. 83 

ing of foreign and British sugars on the same footing, 
afterward gave a new stimulus to the traffic. The ef- 
forts of the Spanish officials for its suppression were 
relaxed, and it attained a height greater than ever be- 
fore. There has been more or less discontent in Cuba 
since the beginning of the present century, but the 
project of annexation to the United States was not 
mooted until the French republic was proclaimed in 
1848. The United States, after the acquisition of Flor- 
ida, began to take a deep interest in the future of the 
island. Fears were entertained that it might fall into 
the hands of the English or French, and Spain and 
those nations were informed that such a disposition of 
it would never be consented to. Its contiguity to the 
coasts of the United States, and its position at the en- 
trance of the Gulf of Mexico, surrounded by twelve dif- 
ferent nationalities, give it an importance which could 
not be disregarded. The American government ex- 
pressed its willingness that it should remain a Spanish 
colony, but averred that it would never permit it to pass 
into other foreign hands. ( )n this principle the Am- 
erican government opposed the contemplated invasion 
of Bolivar, and urged Spain to make peace with the 
Spanish American republics in order to save Cuba 
from a change in her political and social system. In 
1825, a proposition was made by Spain that in consid- 
eration of certain commercial concessions the United 
States should guarantee to her the possession of Cuba; 



84 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

but it was declined on the ground that such a course 
was contrary to the established policy of the United 
States. In 1848, President Polk authorized the Am- 
erican minister at Madrid to offer $100,000,000 for 
Cuba, but the proposition was rejected in the most per- 
emptory manner. In 1840. Narsico Lopez, a native 
Venezuelan, but who had lived long in Cuba, where he 
had been in the Spanish military service, came to the 
United States with a number of Cubans, having been 
implicated in revolutionary movements. Me repre- 
sented the creole population as dissatisfied with Span- 
ish rule and ready for revolt and annexation to the 
United States. Recruits were collected for a descent 
upon the island. The first expedition, in [849, was de- 
feated by the vigilance of the United States authori- 
ties. A second attempt was made in 1850, and a land- 
ing effected at Cardenas; but it resulted in failure, and 
the party were driven to sea. In August, 1 851 , Lopez 
sailed from New Orleans in a steamer with 500 men, 
and landed at Morillo in the Vuelta Abajo. The ex- 
pected uprising of the people did not take place, many 
of his men were killed in the engagements, fifty cap- 
tured with Colonel Crittenden were shot in Havana, 
and the survivors, who, with their leader, had taken 
refuge in the woods, were soon made prisoners. Lopez 
was garroted in Havana, September 1; some others of 
his comrades were shot, but most of the survivors 
were transported and subsequently pardoned. In 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 85 

1852, President Fillmore refused to join with France 
and Great Britain in a treaty guaranteeing to Spain the 
possession of Cuba. This rendered the Spanish gov- 
ernment more alert in guarding against revolution 
within and expeditions from without, and led to occa- 
sional collisions with American citizens. The firing on 
the American steamer Black Warrior by a Spanish ves- 
sel of war, during the administration of President 
Pierce, threatened at one time to lead to hostilities. 
Since then the question of the acquisition of Cuba has 
entered frequently into American politics. In August, 
1854, Messrs. Buchanan, Mason and Soule, United 
States ministers at London, Paris and Madrid respec- 
tively, held a conference at Ostend and Aix-la-Chap- 
elle and drew up a statement popularly known as the 
Ostend manifesto. In this document, they argued 
that Cuba ought to belong to the United States, and 
that Spain would find its sale to be highly advan- 
tageous; and that in certain contingencies, such as the 
emancipation of the slaves by the Spanish government, 
the United States ought to possess themselves of the 
island by force. A proposition was urged in the 
United States Senate in the session of 1858-50 to place 
$30,000,000 in the hands of the President, with a view 
to the acquisition of the island ; but, after debate, it was 
withdrawn by its author, Mr. Slidell, of Louisiana. In 
the meantime, the agitation of the question of inde- 
pendence still continued in Cuba, and suspected per- 



S6 STORY OF sl'\l\ 1 \l> C HA. 

sons were arrested and imprisoned or banished with- 
out trial in the most arbitrary manner. In 1852, a con- 
spiracy was discovered, and the leaders were con- 
demned to death or to hard labor for life. In 1854, 
C leneral Jose de la Concha, in anticipation of an upris- 
ing of the creole population, threatened to Africanize 
the island. He formed and drilled battalions of black 
troops, armed the native-born Spaniards and disarmed 
the Cubans, and made ready for a desperate defense. 
His energy probably prevented a revolution at the 
time. The Cuban junta in New York had made prep- 
arations for a descent on the coast, and had enrolled a 
large body of men: but, under the circumstances, the 
attempt was postponed. Pinto and Estrampes, Cu- 
bans taken with arms in their hands, were executed, 
and about 100 others were condemned to the galleys 
or deported. ( leneral Concha was created Marquis of 
Havana for his services. For the succeeding ten years 
the island was comparatively quiet; lint the party of 
independence was only awaiting an opportunity to 
strike. On August 2, 1867. Francisco V. Aguilera. 
Manuel A. Aguilera and Francisco Maceo Osorio met 
in the house of the last-named in Bayamo, and formed 
a conspiracy to liberate Cuba from Spanish rule. A 
few months later their associates were so numerous 
that the leaders found it difficult to restrain them from 
striking prematurely. The revolutionary movement 
spread rapidly throughout the Eastern department. In 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 89 

Manzanillo, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes placed him- 
self at its head; in Holguin, Belisario Alvarez; in Las 
Tunas, Vicente Garcia; in Jiguani, Donato Marmol, 
and in Santiago de Cuba, Manuel Fernandez. These 
men met in September, 1868, to set a day for the rising. 
At this meeting, all the deputies, with the exception of 
those from Manzanillo, insisted on the necessity for 
delaying action for at least six months, but no decision 
was arrived at. Another consultation was held on Oc- 
tober 3, at which Francisco Aguilera urged a delay of 
sixteen days. His arguments were accepted as con- 
clusive at the time, but two days afterwards it was 
agreed definitely that the blow snould be struck on Oc- 
tober 14. In the meantime, news of the projected out- 
break had reached Havana. On October 9, a letter 
carrier was detained at Cespedes's sugar estate, La 
Demajagua, and found' to be the bearer of an order for 
the arrest of the conspirators. Cespedes deemed it ex- 
pedient to strike at once, and with only 200 badly- 
armed men at his command, he declared for independ- 
ence on the field of Yara, October 10. Yara was de- 
fended by a Spanish force too strong for the insurgents, 
but on the 13th attacks were made on Las Tunas, 
Cauto Embarcadero, Jiguani, La Guisa, El Datil and 
Santa Rita. On the 18th, Bayamo was captured; the 
governor shut himself in the fort with a few men, but 
capitulated on the 22d. A Spanish force under Colo- 
nel Quiros, numbering about 800 infantry, besides cav- 



90 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

airy and artillery, which had left Santiago de Cuba for 
the relief of Bayamo, was defeated and driven back to 
the former place with heavy loss. Camaguey soon 
followed the example of Vara. A republican form of 
government was organized, at the head of which were 
placed Salvador Cisneros Betancourt, Marquis of 
Santa Lucia, and Ignacio and Eduardo Agramonte. 
( )n November 25, General Count Valmaseda, who had 
been sent from Havana into the insurrectionary dis- 
trict with the San Quintin regiment, set out from Pu- 
erto Principe for Nuevitas by rail, but was attacked on 
the following day and forced to return, leaving his dead 
on the field. Five days later, he reached San Miguel, 
his force being harassed the entire distance. In De- 
cember, Colonel Acosta y Alvear was defeated by the 
Cubans at Las Yaguas with heavy loss. Cespedes had 
proclaimed himself captain-general in the Eastern de- 
partment, and early in December a conference between 
the leaders in both departments was held at Guaimaro, 
but no consolidation was effected. Arrangements 
were made, however, to act in concert. Meanwhile, 
Valmaseda, who was still at San Miguel, increased his 
force to 4000 men and marched on Bayamo. He re- 
ceived a severe check at Saladillo, but finally suc- 
ceeded in crossing the Canto. The Cubans in Bayamo, 
seeing the hopelessness of defense, burned the city. On 
December 26, General Ouesada landed a cargo of arms 
and took command of the army of Camaguey. The 



STORY OF SPA IX AND CUBA. 91 

railroad between Xuevitasand Puerto Principe was cut 
by the insurgents, and the situation of the latter place 
became so critical that heavy reinforcements were sent 
thither from Havana. In October, 1868, Spain had 
19,700 men of all arms in Cuba. Before the close of 
the year 20,000 additional troops had been sent from 
Europe, over 12,000 contra-guerrillas recruited on 
the island and 40,000 volunteers organized for the de- 
fense of cities. The volunteers, or national guard, 
were raised from Spanish immigrants, between whom 
and the native Cubans has always existed a bitter jeal- 
ousy and enmity. In 1873 they numbered about 60,- 
000 in the whole island, and 11,000 in Havana. In 
January, 1869, they committed fearful atrocities at 
Havana, shooting men, women and children in the 
Yillanueva theatre, at the Louvre and at the sack of 
Aldama's house. In February, General Dulce, suc- 
cessor of Lersundi as captain-general, sent commis- 
sioners to the Cubans to open negotiations, offering 
them everything but independence, but met with no 
encouragement. On February 26, the "assembly of 
representatives of the centre" assumed its functions in 
Camaguey, and the first act of the new government 
was the abolition of slavery. In the same month, the 
Villas district rose against Spanish rule; and the insur- 
gents, who numbered over 7000 men under General 
Ruloff, a Pole, were successful in several engagements. 
A national convention was held at Guaimaro. April 10, 



'J2 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

at which were present Cespedes, chief of the provis- 
ional government of the Eastern department, the 
members of the Camagueyan assembly, the deputies 
from Villa Clara and representatives from Santo Es- 
piritn, Holgnin and Jiguani. A constitution was 
adopted. The republic was divided into four Slates: 
( )riente, Camaguey, Las Villas and ( )ccidente. Full 
legislative powers were given to the chamber of repre- 
sentatives, to which was intrusted the nomination of a 
president and of a commander-in-chief of the army. 
Both of these officers were to hold their position at the 
will of the chamber, which had the power to remove 
them without previous indictment. The flag adopted 
was the one which had been unfurled by Agnero and 
Lopez. On April u, Cespedes was elected president, 
and Manuel Quesada, commander-in-chief. On April 
18, a Spanish force of 200 men was surrounded and 
most of the number were killed or captured. General 
Valmaseda had meanwhile issued a proclamation, de- 
creeing that every male over fifteen years of age found 
in the country away from his home, without justifiable 
reason, should be shot; that every house on which a 
white flag was not displayed should be burned, am' 
that all women and children found alone on their farms 
should be removed willingly or by force, either to Bay- 
amo or Jiguani. In May, two important landings 
were made in aid of the insurgents: one under Rafael 
Quesada, in Camaguey, of men, arms and ammunition 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 93 

from the steamer Salvador; the other under General 
Thomas Jordan, a graduate of West Point and an ex- 
officer of the Confederate service, at Mayari, of 175 
officers and men, arms and ammunition for 2600 men, 
and ten pieces of artillery, from the steamer Perit. The 
former reached the interior without resistance ; the lat- 
ter was attacked at Canalito and again at El Ramon, 
but repulsed the enemy and reached his destination. 
The command of the army of the Oriente was at once 
assigned to General Jordan. Before the close of the 
year, General Quesada, having demanded extraordi- 
narv powers, was deposed by congress, and General 
Jordan appointed commander-in-chief. On January 
1, 1870, the latter defeated a Spanish force under Gen- 
eral Puella at Las Minas de Guaimaro. In August of 
the same year, the United States government offered 
to Spain their good offices for a settlement of the strife. 
Terms for the cession of the island to the Cubans were 
proposed by Mr. Fish, the United States Secretary of 
State, but Spain declined the offer. The volunteers, 
having in July expelled Captain-General Duce, Gen- 
eral Caballero de Rodas was sent from Spain to replace 
him, together with a reinforcement of 30,000 men. In 
December, De Rodas was superseded by Valmaseda 
at the dictation of the volunteers. On November 27, 
1871, eight medical students were condemned by a 
court-martial of volunteers for alleged desecration of 
the grave of a Spanish editor and shot. In December, 



94 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

Valmaseda issued a proclamation, giving notice that 
every insurgent taken after January 15, 1872, would 
be shot, and all surrendering after that date be sen- 
tenced to perpetual imprisonment. In 1872, Valma- 
seda was replaced ad interim by Caballos, and in 1873 
definitely succeeded by General Pieltain, who, in July, 
1873, sent to President Cespedes to offer peace on con- 
dition that Cuba should remain a State of the Spanish 
republic; but the offer was declined. In November, 
1873, General Pieltain was superseded by General Jo- 
vellar; and in December Cespedes was deposed from 
the presidency of the" Cuban republic and succeeded by 
Salvador Cisneros. There have been sent to Cuba 
from Spain since < >ctober, 1868, 80,000 soldiers, of 
whom not more than 12,000 survive. According to 
official reports forwarded from Madrid by the United 
States minister. 13,600 Cubans have been killed in bat- 
tle up to August, 1872, besides 43,500 prisoners whom 
the Spanish minister admitted to have been put to 
death. In the first three years of the war, up to Oc- 
tober, 1 87 1, Spain had expended, according to official 
statements, $70,339,658.70. 

THE "VIRGINITJS" MASSACRE OF 1873. 

The reproductions shown from Frank Leslie's Illus- 
trated Newspaper of the year 1873, illustrating the hor- 



STQRY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 97 

rible massacre of the crew of the American steamer 
Virginius, will be viewed with a sad interest by the ma- 
jority of readers. The pictures will bring home to 
them at a glance the extreme barbarity of Spain's 
methods of warfare, and will justify the denunciations 
launched against that retrograde nation in the highest 
legislative council of this country, for it is hardly to be 
supposed that the bloodthirsty hidalgo has undergone 
any change of heart in the past twenty years. In fact, 
there are reasons to believe that, if anything, the prac- 
tices of the present authorities in Cuba even surpass 
for refinement of cruelty the dark deeds of their prede- 
cessors of the seventies. 

The story of the Virginius, briefly summed up, is as 
follows: The vessel, a side-wheel iron steamer, was 
purchased in Xew York in 1870 by the Cuban revolu- 
tionary junta, and was used for the transport of men 
and munitions to the coast of Cuba. She was entered 
as an American vessel, however, and continued to fly 
the Stars and Stripes on her various cruises. Her last 
trip was in the autumn of 1873, when she left Kingston, 
Jamaica, with 175 volunteers and a complete arma- 
ment, and turned her helm toward the Cuban coast. 
Her captain, Joseph Fry, was a native of Louisiana, 
and had been specially engaged for the occasion. Her 
crew were, for the most part. New Yorkers, and were 
unaware of the object of the expedition. Unfortu- 



9S STORY OF SPAIN IND CUBA. 

nately, a damage to her machinery obliged the Vir- 
ginius to seek temporary shelter in the harbor of 
Kingston, Jamaica, a delay which sufficed to put the 
Spanish authorities on her track, and when she made 
her second start the Spanish man-of-war Tornado 
swooped down upon her, and after a long chase, suc- 
ceeded in forcing her to surrender. It should be said, 
however, that before this every object that might in 
the least excite suspicion, such as horses, arms and 
munitions, had been thrown into the sea, so that when 
the boarding party stepped on her deck they found 
themselves on board an ordinary merchantman, carry- 
ing the Stars and Stripes and cleared for Colon, with a 
clean bill of health! In spite of this, and of the appa- 
rent fact that the capture had been made in British 
waters, the Tornado towed her prize to Santiago de 
Cuba, arriving there the following" day, November I. 

The ordinary procedure under similar circum- 
stances, when evidence of wrong-doing was as slight 
as in the present case, would have been to undertake a 
thorough and painstaking judicial examination. Gov- 
ernor Burriel, of Santiago, thought otherwise, and so 
did his adherents, the Spanish volunteers. On the 2d 
of November, a drum-head court-martial was convened 
on board the Tornado, and the four leaders of the ex- 
pedition, Generals W. A. C. Ryan, of Xew York; Jesus 
del Sol, Barnabe Yarona and Pedro Cespedes, brother 



STORY OF sl'AIX AND CUBA. 99 

of the president of the Cuban republic, were condemned 
to death on the charge of piracy. The sentence was 
carried into effect the following morning. Hardly 
had the smoke cleared from above the corpses of these 
four lovers of liberty when a second court-martial as- 
sembled to try the rank and file of the expedition, in- 
cluding the captain and crew of the Yirginius. Here 
again the charge was piracy on the high seas, and 
again the same awful sentence was pronounced. It 
being impracticable to execute the entire body of pris- 
oners at one time, the unfortunates were divided into 
batches, and on the morning of November 4, the first 
one, consisting of Captain Fry and thirty-six of his 
crew, many of them being boys in their teens, marched 
in solemn procession from the jail to the slaughter- 
house, half a mile away, to fall victims to the vindictive 
hate of the Spanish tyrant. 

Here I quote an eye-witness's description: "The sad 
procession halts when it has arrived at the place of 
doom, and forms a hollow square, with the victims in 
the midst. The line of soldiers next the slaughter- 
house then opens and the prisoners are placed on the 
edge of the trench or moat, kneeling and bound, but 
not blindfolded, and having their faces turned to the 
wall. The clergy, after having conveyed to the 'mis- 
erable sinners' their Master's message of 'Peace on 
earth and pfood will toward? men." and having recom- 



100 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

mended their souls to that mercy in another world de- 
nied to them in this one, retire to the centre of the 
square, where they take their place beside the colonel 
and the regimental staff. The commanding' officer 
gives the fatal signal by waving his sword, the men fire, 
and the wretched objects of Spanish hate and ven- 
geance fall headlong into the shallow trench, some 
dead, some dying, and others wounded, but alive. Then 
comes the crowning barbarity — a company of artillery, 
till now kept in reserve, gallops forward and crushes, 
with the broad and heavy wheels of the guns, dying, 
dead and wounded into one indistinguishable mass." 

And these horrors the Spanish governor proposed 
to repeat day by day until the last man of the 200 od 1 
prisoners of the Virginius had been done to death ! But 
on November 5, a few hours before the time fixed for 
a third orgy of blood, a British warship, the Niobe, ap- 
peared in the harbor, and her captain promptly in- 
formed the governor that he would tolerate no further 
bloodshed until the matter had been referred to the 
home authorities. So the balance of the unfortunates 
were saved, and subsequently, when the United States 
threatened war, they, together with the Virginius, 
were surrendered by Spain, who also apologized for the 
outrage. But no apology, however abject, could bring 
to life again the poor mutilated forms in the trench at 
Santiago de Cuba: none could ever atone for the hid- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 101 

eous cruelty of Governor Juan Nepomuceno Burriel, 
their butcher! 

Is it any wonder that the people of the United States, 
with this ghastly tragedy staring them in the face, re- 
fuse to believe the Spanish protestations that they are 
conducting their present war against the Cubans upon 
humane principles? 



1J2 STOMY OF >S1 J A1\ AND CUBA. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE WAR OF 1895. 

The peace of Zanjon proved to be no peace at all. 
The cancer continued to eat its way into the vitals of 
Cuba, and the result was the same as before. There 
was an insurrection in 1879 and again in 1880, and, in 
fact, there never was profound quiet. The Cubans 
soon found that under the election law that provided 
a poll tax of $25, the voting strength of the native ele- 
ment was neutralized. It gave the ballot to the rich 
only, but, to make matters worse, it was so arranged 
that most of the Spaniards could escape payment. A 
firm would pay a single poll tax and vote all its mem- 
bers and employes. The franchise became a farce, and 
in the national election for members of the Spanish 
Cortes (or Congress) not over 53,000 votes were cast 
out of a population of over a million and a half. Again, 
the old plundering and extortion continued. The es- 
timates of receipts and expenditures for the island 
each year were about $25,000,000. ( )f this, the Span- 
ish civil officials in the island took $4,000,000. begin- 
ning with the Governor-General, whose salary was 
$50,000 a year and found: the army took $6,000,000; 



IS TORY OF XPAIN AND CUBA. 105 

interest on the old Spanish national debt took $10,- 
500,000; pensions, $2,200,000; treasury administration, 
$708,000; judiciary, $995,000, and so on, all the money 
being absorbed by Spaniards, except about $725,000 
for internal improvement, harbors, etc. Not a cent 
was spent for primary education. 

Then there was always an annual deficit of from 
$8,000,000 to $10,000,000 to be made up by the issue of 
so-called "Cuban bonds." 

In 1885, our consul-general, Mr. Ramon O. Wil- 
liams, in an official communication to the Department 
of State, gave the following picture of the condition of 
affairs in the island at that time - 

"There is a system of oppression and torture which 
enters every phase of life, eats into the soul of every 
Cuban, mortifies, injures and insults him every hour, 
impoverishes him and his family from day to day, 
threatens the rich man with bankruptcy and the poor 
man with beggary. The exactions of the Spanish gov- 
ernment and the illegal outrages of its officers are, in 
fact, intolerable. They have reduced the island to de- 
spondency and ruin. The government at Madrid is 
directly answerable for the misery of Cuba and for the 
rapacity and venality of its subordinates. No well-in- 
formed Spaniard imagines that Cuba will long con- 
tinue to submit to this tyranny, or, at least, that she will 
long be able to yield this harvest to her oppressors, 
Spain cares nothing whatever for the interests, the 



io<; 



UTOiey OF ISFAIN AND CUBA. 



prosperity or the sufferings of her colony. The gov- 
ernment does almost nothing to ameliorate any of the 
evils of the country. The police are everywhere in- 
sufficient and inefficient. The roads are no roads at 
all. Every interest which might enrich and improve 
the island is looked upon by officials as one more mino 
to exploit. Cuba is held solely for the benefit oi 
Spain and Spanish interests, for the sake of Spanish 
adventurers. Against this all rebel in thought and 
feeling, if not yet in fact and deed. They wish protec- 
tion from the grasping rapacity of .Spain, and see no 
way to attain it except by our aid. v 

A calculation shows that for a series of years only 
one-eighteenth of the taxes wrung from the island in 
various ways was spent for its benefit, and, including 
the fines and extortions, not more than one twenty-fifth 
of what the island produced, and gave up yearly to the 
Spaniards, was used for the advantage of the people 
who earned it. 

Everv office of importance, or where there was any 
emolument, was filled by a Spaniard appointed from 
Spain. In fact, Cuban revenues were practically all 
swallowed up, either to meet national obligations of 
Spain, or to restore the fortunes of broken-down Span- 
ish aristocrats, who made haste to fill their chests with 
plunder and give way to a new and equally hungry 
horde of successors. 

In the earlv days of the administration of President 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 107 

Harrison, Mr. Blaine, then Secretary of State, made 
an effort to secure the recognition of the independence 
of Cuba by Spain, through the purchase of the island 
by its citizens, with a guarantee of payment by the 
United States. Spain, however, refused to consider 
the proposition, and the effort was abandoned. 

Finally, an alleged "reform," proposed by the Span- 
ish government, proved to be the traditional "last 
feather" which broke the camel's back. It was pro- 
posed to administer the island by a Council, to be com- 
posed of thirty members, fifteen of whom shoidd be 
appointed by Spain and fifteen elected by the Cubans. 
The governor-general was to be president ex-officio 
of this council, with the casting vote and the right of 
veto. Under the election laws it was apparent that at 
least twelve of the fifteen members for Cuba would be 
Spaniards, but in order to make Spanish control 
doubly sure, the governor-general was also to have 
the power to suspend any number of members of the 
Council not to exceed ten, at any time he wished, and 
for any period that might suit his pleasure. 

The object of this Council of Administration was 
apparent. There were held in Europe over $200,000,- 
000 of Cuban bonds. This Cuban debt had not been 
contracted for internal improvements in the island or 
for anything else beneficial to Cuba. These bonds 
covered loans made by Spain for expenses in her mili- 
tary operations against Mexico, Peru and San Do- 



108 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

mingo, and for other purposes, with which the island 
had nothing to do, any more than any other part of the 
kingdom. These bonds were secured by the revenue 
of Cuba, and were of doubtful legality. It was alleged 
that the object of the government in forming this 
Council of Administration was to make a new issue of 
Cuban bonds for some $300,000,000, to be taken by 
an English syndicate, and wipe out the old debt and 
include another $100,000,000. Then this new Cuban 
bond was to be approved by the proposed Cuban 
Council of Administration. This outrage was suffi- 
cient to arouse the Cubans to the present rebellion. 

The insurrection was planned in New York city, 
and its chief spirit was Jose Marti, who was a man of 
great power as a speaker and writer. He had been 
twice banished by the Spanish government, but had 
escaped and taken up his residence in New York city, 
where he kept alive the cause of Cuba, and prepared 
for the uprising which occurred at various points in 
the eastern part of the island, February 24, 1895, under 
Maso, Betancourt and other patriot leaders. The 
Spanish government at once took active steps to crush 
the revolt. Governor-General Calleja issued an order 
suspending constitutional guarantees, which was fol- 
lowed by the arrest of Cuban suspects in various parts 
of the country and their banishment to the African 
penal colony. The revolutionists did not undertake 
any general operations, awaiting the coming of Go- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 109 

mez, Marti and the Maceo brothers and other exiled 
leaders, who arrived in April. At the same time, Cal- 
leja was recalled and General Martinez de Campos was 
sent out to the command, great confidence being 
placed in his military and administrative ability. He 
sailed for the island, April 3. By this time the revo- 
lution was under full headway, and the Cubans were 
everywhere successful, "seizing the garrisons, and in a 
few weeks taking practical possession of the province 
of Santiago de Cuba. 

Antonio Maceo took command of the forces, and 
sent his brother Jose to meet Gomez and Marti at 
Guatanamo. All of the exiled generals met in safety 
and held a conference, at which the campaign under 
Gomez and Antonio Maceo was decided upon. They 
moved toward Camaguey, going first to Holguin, the 
people rising in their support everywhere. Early in 
May, Gomez and Marti issued their proclamations and 
made preparations for constituting the provisional 
government. They met General Maso coming with 
a force from Bayamo and Manzanillo, and upon their 
return were attacked by the Spaniards on the 19th of 
May at Dos Rios, where Jose Marti was killed. The 
death of Marti was the only great reverse experienced 
by the insurgents so far during the war. General 
Campos decided to confine the rebels within the prov- 
ince of Santiago, and threw two cordons or trochas 
across the island to keep the revolutionists out of Pu- 



110 STORY OF KPAIN AND CUBA. 

erto Principe. Early in June, however, Gomez and 
his lieutenant successfully hanked him out of these. 
two lines, and before the month was over had full pos- 
session of the interior of Puerto Principe, being joined 
by Betancourt and his followers. 

After some weeks of apparent inaction on both sides, 
Campos decided to move into Santiago and get in the 
rear of Gomez, and crush him between two columns. 
He met Maceo and Rabi near Bayamo, July 24, and 
the Spaniards were defeated under his own eye. In 
August, the Cubans, under Jose Maceo, Cebreco and 
Perez, beat the Spaniards at various points, and com- 
pelled the practical abandonment of the eastern part 
of the island by the government forces. 

OFFICIALS OF THE CUBAN REPUBLIC. 

The death of Marti had delayed the civil organiza- 
tion of the republic, but the constituent assembly met 
September 13, in Camaguey, and adopted a constitu- 
tion, and the following day organized the government 
by the election of Salvador Cisneros Betancourt, of 
Puerto Principe, President; Bartolome Maso, of Man- 
zanillo, Vice-President; Carlos Roloff, of Santa Clara 
Secretary of War; Mario Menocal, of Matanzas As- 
sistant Secretary of War; Rafael Porttiondo y Tamav 
of Santiago de Cuba, Secretary of Foreign Affairs' 
Fermin Valdez Domingues, of Havana, Assistant Sec- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 113 

retary of Foreign Affairs; Severo Pina, of Espiritu 
Santu, Secretary of the Treasury; Joaquin Castillo y 
Duany, of Santiago de Cuba, Assistant Secretary of 
the Treasury; Santiago Canizares, of Remedios, Sec- 
retary of the Interior; Carlos Dubois, of Baracoa, As- 
sistant Secretary of the Interior. Maximo Gomea 
was elected general-in-chief of the army, and Antonio 
Maceo, lieutenant-general. 

The President formerly was the Marquis of Santa 
Lucia, but he renounced his title in 1868 and joined the 
revolution. His estates were confiscated, but were 
partially restored after the peace of 1878. The Betan- 
court family has long been one of the most illustrious 
in the island. Maso, the Vice-President, was born in 
Manzanillo, where he has long been a leading citizen. 
General Rolofr is a native of Poland, but came to Cuba 
when a youth, and settled at Cienfuegos, whence, in 
1869, he led a battalion composed of the sons of the 
principal Cuban families of the place, and served 
through the "Ten Years' War" with distinction. Mario 
Menocal is a relative of Engineer Menocal, of th^ 
United States navy, who has long been prominently 
associated with the Isthmus Canal project. The Sec- 
retary of Foreign Affairs is a member of an old and 
aristocratic family of Santiago de Cuba, and his as- 
sistant, Dr. Domingues, has been a leading physician 
of Havana, who was banished to the penal colony atj 
Ceuta during the last war, but allowed to return after 



114 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

the peace of Zanjon. Severo Pina belongs to a family 
of great wealth and long established in the island. His 
assistant, Dr. Duany, is one of the men who went as a 
physician on the relief expedition sent out to look for 
De Long and his people, who were trying to reach the 
North Pole on the ill-fated Jeannette. No family in 
the island is prouder than his. General Maximo ( ro- 
mez is a native of San Domingo, of Spanish descent. 
but has long been as much identified with Cuba as one 
of its own people. Lieutenant-General Antonio Ma- 
ceo is a colored man, and of such force and attainments 
as to deserve a place on the indestructible tablets of 
the history of his race beside the names of Toussaint 
L'Ouverture and Frederick Douglass. He entered 
the ranks when a young man, in the ten years' war, and 
by ability and bravery rose to the grade of a general. 
He has devoted his life to the service of his race and 
his native island. He has the marks of twenty-one 
wounds received on the field of battle. Such is his ac- 
knowledged force of character that members of the 
proudest families of Cuba compose his staff. 

The constituent assembly divided the island into 
States and districts, passed laws to regulate marriages, 
collect taxes and fulfill other functions of government 
Senor Thomas Estrada Palma, who had succeeded 
Jose Marti as head of the Cuban Junta in New York, 
was elected minister plenipotentiary and agent abroad 

Four States were set off and called Oriente, Cama- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 115 

guey, Las Villas or Cabanacan and Occidente. The 
State of Oriente comprises practically the same terri- 
tory as the province of Santiago de Cuba. The State 
of Camaguey lies next west of Oriente, and includes 
all of the province of Puerto Principe up to the mili- 
tary road. The State of Las Villas or Cabanacan lies 
next west of Camaguey, and comprises most of the 
province of Santa Clara. Its western boundary be^ 
gins at the Bay of Cochinos on the southern shore, and 
follows the river courses nearly north to the other 
coast. All the rest of the island, including the prov- 
inces of Matanzas, Havana and Pinar del Rio, is the 
State of Occidente. 

During the summer, the great province of Santa 
Clara (Las Villas), in the middle of the island, the 
richest and most populous after Havana, had risen in 
rebellion. General Gomez issued an order, forbidding 
the grinding of sugar-cane, in order to paralyze the 
financial resources of Spain, and in Xovember he set 
out to enforce it. General Campos had made another 
cordon of posts from Jucaro to Moron, to keep Go- 
mez out of the province of Santa Clara. The insur- 
gent chiefs made sport of it, and soon were massed 
in the district of Remedios, burning the plantations of 
all who would not obey the order not to make sugar. 
Another attempt was made to head off the westward 
movement of Gomez and Maceo, by a new cordon ex- 
tending from Cienfuegos through Las Cruces and La- 



116 STORY OF SPAIN AM) CUBA. 

jas. This line, like the rest, was pierced, and the 
Spaniards fell back from one position to another until 
the province of Matanzas surrendered, and after the 
engagement at Coliseo, December 24, 1895, Campos 
himself, the hero of Zanjon, the conqueror of Mo- 
rocco and the Pacifier of Spain, fled incontinently be- 
fore the thirsty machetes of the despised Cubans to a 
place of safety within the defenses of Havana, while 
the energetic Maceo galloped at will down the \ uelto 
Abajo, and Gomez held the capital in a state of siege. 

Such was the situation when, on January 17, Campos 
sailed back to Spain in disgust, and was succeeded by 
Governor-General \ aleriano Weyler, a man recom- 
mended for the place by his notorious reputation for 
cruelty. He arrived February 10, and began issuing 
a series of proclamations, which culminated in one 
wherein he provided court-martial and the death pen- 
alty for such a long list of actual and implied offenses 
against the power of Spain as to inaugurate a reign of 
terror. 

An official Spanish report, published February 29, 
at Madrid, gives the following statistic of the first year 
of the war: Loss of life on the Spanish side, 3877. 
of which 286 were killed in battle, 119 died of wounds, 
3190 of yellow fever and 282 of other diseases. The 
expenditures was placed at $75,000,000. Spanish reg- 
ulars to the number of 120,000 had been sent to the 
island, in addition to the Spanish volunteers. There 



8T0BY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 117 

is a very common misunderstanding as to these volun- 
teers. They are Spaniards, chiefly young men who 
have come out to the island and found employment as 
clerks and bookkeepers in Cuban cities. They are 
drilled, uniformed and armed at their own expense, 
but under the patronage of wealthy Spanish officials 
and business men. They are a reckless and unruly 
militia force, and are hated above all others by the 
Cubans, who charge upon them, especially, the killing 
of prisoners and other barbarities. 

A detailed account of the recent operations of the 
Cuban army under General Antonio Maceo, just re- 
ceived from headquarters in the field by Minister Es- 
trada Palma, throws an entirely different aspect on the 
invasion of the west than that sought to have been con- 
veyed by the Spanish official reports. 

Accompanying the document was a letter from 
Brigadier-General Miro, chief of Maceo's staff, from 
which the following are extracts: 

General Main, who temporarily succeeded Martinez 
Campos in the command of the island, attempted to 
trap Maceo, but not only were all the Spanish columns 
which he sent against our troops defeated, but we 
broke his military lines and passed from Pinar del Rio 
to Havana. When General Weyler took command of 
the island, he solemnly declared he was glad he had 
remained in and near the province of Havana, because 
he would be better able to crush our forces, the terri- 



118 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

tory being so small. But General Maceo upset all of 
his plans and overran the two provinces. 

Later, General Weyler asserted that our troops were 
demoralized, and that we were returning to the east; 
that General (ionic/- was shamefully running away to 
Siguanca; that Maceo, with scarcely any men, was also 
i ^treating, and that there was nothing left of the Cuban 
army in the province but a mere handful of bandits. 
While General Weyler was publishing these false- 
hoods, ( ieneral Gomez had united his column with that 
of ( ieneral Bandera, and on the very day named he was 
with General Maceo in the province of Matanzas. 

The detailed account of Maceo's operations states, 
in part, as follows: 

GENERAL MACEO'S OPERATIONS. 

After the battles of Paso Real, Candelaria and Rio 
Hondo, we fought on the 9th of February, near San 
Cristobal, against the column of Colonel Hernandez; 
the enemy was obliged to take refuge in Candelaria; 
our forces remained encamped at the seat of battle. 

On the afternoon of the nth, we had a battle on the 
plantation Nueva Empresa, causing the enemy con- 
siderable loss. Among their wounded was the chief 
of a column, General Cornell. On the 12th, we passed 
the province of Havana, crossing by the road and rail- 
road near Artemisa, where the general headquarters 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 121 

of the Spanish were situated. We completely fooled 
the military combination of the then Captain-General 
Sabas Marin, who had a great plan of intercepting us. 
On the 17th and 18th, we approached the capital, en- 
camping in Santa Amalia. We attacked the city of 
Taruco at 8 P. M. the 18th. At midnight the town was 
in our possession. Two hundred buildings were 
burned, and we captured eighty rifles and 2000 rounds 
of ammunition. 

We left the next day and met General Maximo Go- 
mez. The enemy were encountered near the sugar 
plantation of Moralito, and were fought for half an 
hour by the general-in-chief. The battle lasted two 
hours. Our losses were four dead and thirty-eight 
wounded, among the latter being the brave Colonel 
Basilio Guerra. The forces of General Maceo en- 
camped in the plantation Carmen, a league from Cata- 
lina de Guines, and General Gomez encamped on the 
railroad from Guines to Havana. 

At 7 A. M. on the 20th, we renewed our march. We 
stopped about one-half a league from the hill of Gapo, 
to do some scouting. Presently, some shots were 
heard. General Maceo, with 200 cavalry and his es- 
cort, waited for the enemy. The fire was at short 
range, and the Spanish troops were completely shot 
down. When the Spaniards entered the plantation 
El Gado, they gave themselves up to all kinds of out- 



122 STORY OF SP l/\ AND CUBA. 

rages, assassinating the owner and his family and sev- 
eral other peaceful people. 



TWO PROVINCES OVERRUN. 

On the 21st, 22d, 23d and 24th, we paraded through 
the provinces of Havana and Matanzas. ( ieneral ( .<> 
mez marched toward Colon, General Maceo remain- 
ing in Coliseo, where the military combination of Gen 
eral Martinez Campos so signally failed on the 23d of 
December of last year. On the first anniversary of 
the revolution not a shot was heard. 

Since General Weyler has taken command of the 
island, the revolutionary ranks are increasing wonder- 
fully. Many women offer their services. ( )n the 25th 
we had a fierce battle in the sugar plantation of "La 
Peria." ft lasted two long hours, and was renewed in 
the afternoon in the hills of ( iuemacaro. On the 29th. 
we entered Santa Cruz, a town situated on the north- 
east coast, garrisoned by a detachment of thirty men, 
who were made prisoners and afterward given their 
liberty. Thirty rifles and 1600 rounds of ammunition 
were captured. Cn the 1st of March, we returned to- 
ward the centre of the province of Havana. On the 
2d, we had a severe battle with the column of Aldecoa 
in Nazareno, which was attacked by the cavalry of the 
east and the escort of the General. In the afternoon 
on Rio Bavamo, we again fouerht the columns of Al 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 123 

decoa and Linares. On the 3d of March we returned 
to Santa Malia, where we were informed that there 
were 15,000 soldiers against us on the previous day. 
We only had 400 horsemen with which to withstand 
them 

On the 5th, we again entered the province of Matan- 
zas At 6 A. M., on the 7th, we started for the Plan- 
tation "Diana," where General Lacret was encamped. 
As we advanced, the enemy fired upon us. General 
Maceo, by rapid flank movements, attracted the enemy 
to a position favorable to us, and, having obtained his 
object, was not long in routing them. 

MARCHED THROUGH THE SWAMPS. 

On the 9th, at 3 A. M., we commenced our march to 
return to the province of Havana, and we encamped 
at Galcon, where we learned that the general-in-chief 
and General Quintin Bandera, with the infantry of the 
east, were very near At 8 A. M. of the 10th, the 
forces were formed for review to receive the general- 
in-chief, and the brave infantry of the east were re- 
ceived in our camp with great enthusiasm. An hour 
afterward the general-in-chief, with his escort and 
some cavalry, countermarched toward the centre of 
Matanzas, the infantry of the east remained with us 
for a second invasion of Pinar del Rio We marched 



124 STORY OF SPAIZ AND CUBA. 

across the Cienega de Zapata, and at 4 P. M. we en- 
camped to the south of Nueva Paz, province of Ha- 
vana. 

On the nth, at 7 A. M., we commenced our march, 
passing near the plantation Nueva Paz. Our van- 
guard and the centre crossed without any trouble, but 
our rear guard had to fight against the column which 
came out from the plantation Nueva Paz. We en- 
camped at 4 P. M. at Jicotea. At 7 A. M. of the 12th. 
we started and proceeded by swampy roads, almost 
impossible of transit, so that the enemy would not 
perceive our advance through the province of Ha- 
vana. At 6 P. M„ we encamped in the plantation 
Luisi, having left behind us and at a good distance 
■ over 25,000 Spanish soldiers. 

It was General Maceo's aim to lower the prestige of 
the famous Weyler by attacking the fortified town of 
Batabano, so that the operation would have the great- 
est possible importance. We had heard that Bata- 
bano was another Sebastopol. and that the demoral- 
ized Cuban troops would not be able to cross the for- 
tified lines. At 7 P. M., the infantry of the east, in 
three attacking columns, suddenly went into the town, 
and destroyed and burned everything in their path.' 
We captured fifty rifles, provisions, many hundred 
rounds of ammunition, and our infantry obtained new 
clothing. 



STORY OF SPA IX AND CUBA. 125 

AGAIN TO THE WEST. 

On the 14th, we renewed our march toward the 
west. At 7 A. M. of the 15th, we started again from 
the territory of Pinar del Rio, passing the so-called 
terrible "trocha," by Majana. On the 16th, we en- 
camped in the plantation Galope, between Mangas 
and Candelaria. At about 2.30 P. M., in the midst of 
great rain, our pickets discovered a Spanish column 
marching toward Candelaria. General Maceo quickly 
placed himself at the head of the infantry and marched 
to meet them. The suddenness of the attack demor- 
alized the Spaniards, and they abandoned the position 
which they had occupied on the road and retreated in 
disorder. General Maceo tried to force them to the 
left, so that they would be cut down by the Cuban cav- 
alry, which he had ordered placed there; but the or- 
ders which he had given were misinterpreted by his 
aide-de-camp, and the Spaniards found the road clear 
to Candelaria. To this they owe their salvation. 
Nevertheless, there were soldiers of our forces who 
caught Spanish soldiers with their own hands, and we 
captured a great many grenades and mules and horse9 
laden with ammunition. 

In the report of General Maceo of the 19th, he de- 
clares his satisfaction at the conduct of our troops in 
the battles of Galope, Nueva Empresa and Cayajabos, 



12(i STOin OF sl'M\ i \l> CUBA. 

and hopes that they will he examples for new and de- 
cisive victories. 

The present strength of the insurgent army is close 
tc 43,000 men. Cubans themselves estimate the num- 
ber of men in the field as high as 60,000 men, but even 
if unarmed camp-followers, men in charge of provision 
trains, hospitals and camps were counted it is doubtful 
if that number could be found actually in service. 

There are thousands of Cubans who would willingly 
cast their lot with the patriot army, but lack of arms 
and ammunition prevents. 

The insurgent forces operate, as a rule, in zones or 
districts, and are organized on military lines. Tin 
columns of Gomez, Maceo, Lacret and Banderas are, 
however, limited to one province, but pass from one 
to another under direct orders from Gomez. 

The commander-in-chief is now in Matanzas, and 
the others has reinvaded Havana province. 

The following is a statement of the strength and lo- 
cation of the forces of the principal Cuban leaders: 

Maximo Gomez, in Matanzas, 8000; Antonio Ma- 
ceo, Miro, Zayas, others in Havana, 5000; Serafin San- 
chez, in Santa Clara, 4000; Jose Maceo, Bojas, Rodri- 
guez, in Santiago, 3500; Lacret, in Havana, 3000: 
Quintin Banderas, in Havana. 3000: Masso, Alvarez. 
Castillo, Mestre, Nunez, in Havana, 3000; Delgado, 
Bermudez, Sanchez, others Pinar del Rio, 2500: 
Aguirre, Diaz, Hernandez, Palacio, in Havana, 2500; 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 129 

Mayia Rodriguez, others Camaguey, 1500; Reyes, 
Benitez, Vara, Wilson, Mendieta, Santiago, 1000; Ra- 
fael Cardenos, in Matanzas, 800; Verrona, Ruperto, 
Sanchez, others in Pinar del Rio, 800; Oliva, others in 
Pinar del Rio, 600 ; Clotilde Garcia, in Matanzas, 600 ; 
Carillo, Joaquin Garcia, others in Santiago, 600; Ro- 
loff, Pancho Perez, in Santa Clara, 500; Mirabel, Fer- 
rer, Veita, in Santa Clara, 500; Rego, Sixto, Roque, 
Palao Sanchez, in Santa Clara, 500; Cortuna, Vidal, 
Juan Bravo, in Santa Clara, 400; Matagas, in Matan- 
zas, 400; Robau, Cobreco, Ruen, Planas, in Santiago, 
400; Borroto, Lencho, Sardinas, Eduardo, Garcia, in 
Matanzas, 400; Aulst, Morjon, Dimas Martinez, Soto- 
longo, in Matanzas, 400; Yillanneca, Acosta, Aguilar, 
others in Havana, 300; Munoz, Chapotin, Socorro, 
Lino Perez, in Santa Clara, 200— total, 42,800. 

The distribution according to provinces is: Havana, 
16,800; Matanzas, 8600; Santa Clara, 6500; Santiago, 
5500; Pinar del Rio, 3900; Camaguey, 1500— total, 
42,800. In addition to the above, there are innumer- 
able local bands of from fifteen men to fifty, or even 
100. These do not form part of the fighting force, and 
should not be counted as part of the army. Their 
chief functions are to carry out the orders of Gomez 
prohibiting the grinding of cane, the movement of 
troops and supplies by rail, the shipment of provisions 
to cities, and the suppression of "plateades," who rob, 
burn and commit other crimes. 



130 STORY OF SPAIN AM) CUBA. 

The Cuban "army of liberation,*" as it is called, has 
grown to its present size in the face of almost insur- 
mountable difficulties. From the beginning it has 
been outnumbered by the arm) of Spain in the ratio of 
never less than four to one. It has escaped annihila 
tion in many encounters when ammunition ran out 
It has lived on forage, been almost constantly under 
tire, and is today a reckless, dan-devil army, with but 
one idea in view, and that is to free Cuba. What 
comes after i> not given a thought. 



THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 131 



CHAPTER IV. 
THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

DETAILED STORY OF THE FIERCE CONFLICT WHICH LASTED 
FROM FRIDAY DAWN UNTIL SATURDAY AFTERNOON-THE 
VMERICAN ARMY FOUGHT DESPERATELY FOR EVERY FOOT 
0P GROUND GAINED-DESPERATE EFFORTS OF THE SPAN- 
CARDS ON SATURDAY TO RETAKE SAX JUAN HILL-THEIR 
REPULSE WITH TERRIBLE LOSS-LIEUTENANT MAXF1ELD 
FROM HIS BALLOON GUIDED OUR MEN TO THE SPANISH 
OUTWORKS-ROOSEVELT'S HORSE SHOT UNDER HIM AND 
HALF THE ROUGH RIDERS WOUNDED-THREE SHELLS FROM 
ONE DYNAMITE GUN PELL INTO SANTIAGO-THE HOTCHKISS 
GU NS DID GREAT EXECUTION. BUT HEAVY ARTILLERY WAS 
BADLY NEEDED-SPLENDID MARKSMANSHIP OF OUR FLEET. 

San Juan Hill, Overlooking Santiago de Cuba, 
July 2.— On all sides our batteries look down on the 
city and are pouring an awful fire into the Spanish for- 
tifications which face our men. The enemy lie in their 
entrenchments, struggling for every inch of ground. 
The Spanish soldiers are fighting like devils. ( >urs are 
forcing them constantly back, killing them by hundreds 
and never yielding an inch that they have gained. 

Now and then, out in the harbor. Admiral Sampson s 
tleet thunders death at Morro Castle and the adjoining 
defences. The hills and the valleys also re-echo the 



132 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

roar of the big guns and the rattle and crash of mus- 
ketry. 

The Morro is almost in ruins. Its batteries are all 
but silenced. The huge Spanish Hag which floated so 
defiantly from the Morro. and which was the only one 
in sight from the sea on the south coast, has been shot 
away, and there are great yawning holes in the masonry 
of the hillside defences. 

It is not possible at this time to tell the complete 
story of the two days' fighting. The Sun presents as 
nearly complete a story as could be gathered by its cor- 
respondents at the front and sent by them by couriers 
to Siboney, which place they reached late this after- 
noon. 

SANTIAGO AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 

Just a week after the battle near Sevilla. in which the 
Rough Riders took part. General Shafter's men were 
in their positions for attacking the Spaniards. The 
readers of this will understand the situation from 
the following description of the surroundings of the 
city of Santiago: 

Six miles from the sea at the head of what is practi- 
cally a salt water lake lies Santiago, surrounded on all 
sides by high mountains, which rise almost straight up 
from the water. These mountains stand in ridges, prac- 
tically running parallel with the coast. Between the 
first and second ridges is Santiago. 



TEE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 133 

Two and one-half miles east of the entrance of the 
harbor is Aguadores, directly south of Santiago itself. 
Southeast of Santiago on the top of a hill is San Juan, 
from which place this dispatch is sent. About three 
miles northeast of the city is El Caney. Santiago is a 
walled city, and Aguadores, San Juan and El Caney are 
its outposts on the east. 

General Shatter believed that Santiago would be best 
taken by compelling its capitulation by siege, but he 
finally yielded to arguments in favor of attacking the 
place all along the line and to never stop the righting 
until Santiago was taken. 

On Thursday the Americans had the city practically 
surrounded. The plan of attack comprised a joint as- 
sault by the fleet and army on Aguadores and a military 
attack alone on El Caney and San Juan hill, cast of the 
eminence on which the little town of San Juan stands, 
the fleet diverting the attention of the enemy by occa- 
sionally bombarding. 

DISPOSITION OF TUIi FORCES. 

The forces under General Lawton were sent north 
to make the attack on El Caney. General Wheeler's 
cavalry, under Summer, General Wheeler being ill, had 
the center of the line up the valley which the town of 
San Tuan overlooks, while General Duffield was at the 



134 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

seaside to fight in conjunction with the fleet and the 
Michigan volunteers against Aguadores. 

The Seventy-first New York, the Rough Riders and 
Colonel Wheeler's Massachusetts volunteers were held 
in reserve. At 3 o'clock on Friday morning General 
Lauton was on the El Caney road, General Duffield 
was at the railroad near the crest, with his troops in 
trains, while General Wheeler, who had determined to 
take the field in spite of his illness, went up the valley 
to the hillside ranch El Pozo. He planted Captain 
Grimes's battery of four pieces there, 2600 yards from 
the Santiago forts. General Lawton's division was led 
by General Chaffee's brigade, with Lieutenant-Colonel 
Ludwig supporting. Colonel Miles's brigade sup- 
ported General Wheeler in the center. Captain Ca- 
pron's battery was planted on a bluff a mile and one-half 
from El Caney. 

OPENING ON EL CANEY. 

All was in readiness at daylight. The Spaniards did 
not discover the position of the Americans until sun- 
rise. Capron fired the first gun at 6 o'clock, and this 
opened the battle, which has been raging ever since. 

The report of the first ^un echoed and re-echoed, 
and then died away. There was no reply. Another 
shot followed, and then another. Still there was no 
reply. It looked as if the Spaniards would not fight. 



130 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

The Cubans believed that they were retreating. A 
thousand Cubans under Garcia and Demetrio Castillo 
hurried along the road from El Pozo to El Caney to 
head them off. They were just in time to catch the flee- 
ing Spaniards at the Ducurance Estate. There was a 
hot fight for a few minutes, and the Spaniards then went 
back to El Cane)', taking their wounded with them. 
The Cubans had nineteen wounded. 

Meantime, Captain Capron's battery continued fir- 
ing until it had delivered twenty-seven shots, to which 
no answer was made. The Spaniards were driven back 
into a corner, and how they fought ! Capron's battery 
damaged the town, not the fortifications. As the 
twenty-eighth shot was being fired there was a whist- 
ling near the battery, followed by the explosion of a 
shell from the Reina Mercedes battery. Another and 
another followed, but the Spaniards did poor shooting. 
Their shells did not touch the battery, but fell on a 
house where some soldiers were, a distance away. The 
three shells wounded thirteen Cubans and eighteen 
Americans. 

The duel became hot now. The Americans fired 
quicker now that they had a line on the fort. Every 
shot from their battery told, and so did many of the 
Spanish shells. Their firing showed much improve- 
ment, and their guns were handled in a masterly style. 
After an hour the firing ceased on both sides. 



THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 137 
THE BATTLE ON OUR CENTER. 

Grimes's battery at El Pozo had in the meantime 
opened, firing across the gulch from the hill below San 
Juan. There was no reply until the tenth shot. Then 
the Spanish shells burst over the American line, all of 
them flying too high to do any harm to the battery. 
The First and Tenth regiments and the Rough Riders 
were lying along the hillside in the bushes. The shells 
were raining shrapnel on them, but they did not seem 
to heed it much, many of them joking as the firing went 
on. None of them were seriously hurt. 

For half an hour the shells from both sides whistled 
and shrieked. The Spaniards on the hill were sur- 
rounded by a cloud of yellow dust that was torn up by 
the American shells. Still they fired, but, as usual, their 
shells went too high. In half an hour more the position 
became too hot for them. Their firing gradually be- 
came weaker, and then ceased. The batteries were 
silenced, and there were no Spaniards in sight. 

The Tenth and First regiments and the Rough Rid- 
ers were ordered to make a detour and take the hill. 
The Spaniards were not in sight, but there were hun- 
dreds of them in concealment. The Rough Riders 
marched through the gulch across to the slope. 
whereupon the blockhouse opened fire again. One ol 
the Spanish shells wounded Mason Mitchell, Cuban 
Trooper Long and Surgeon Devore. 



138 TEE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

At the same time the Spanish sharpshooters began 
popping away, picking off men here and there. Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Roosevelt, mounted, rode at the head of 
his troops, with the Tenth Cavalry ranged alongside. 
The riders all dodged behind bushes and trees to escape 
the hail of bullets. The Spanish fire grew hotter and 
hotter, and our men dropped two and three at a time. 

CHARGE OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. 

When they came to the open, smooth hillside there 
was no protection. Bullets were raining down on 
them, and shot and shells from the batteries were 
sweeping everything. There was a moment's hesita- 
tion, and then came the order, "Forward, charge!" 
Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt led, waving his sword. 
Out into the open the men went and up the hill. Death 
to every man seemed certain. The crackle of the Man- 
ser rifles was continuous. Out of the brush came the 
Riders. Up, np they went, with the colored troops 
alongside of them, not a man flinching, and firing as 
they ran. Roosevelt was ioo feet in the lead. Up. up 
they went in the face of death, men dropping from the 
ranks at every step. The Rough Riders acted like vet- 
Tans. It was an inspiring sight and an awful one. 

Astonished by the madness of the rush, the Spaniards 
exposed themselves. This was a fatal mistake for them. 



THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 139 

The Tenth Cavalry picked them off like ducks and 
rushed on, up and up. 

The more Spaniards were killed more seemed to take 
their places. The rain of shells and bullets doubled. 
Men dropped faster and faster, but others took then- 
places. Roosevelt sat erect on his horse, holding Ins 
sword and shouting for his men to follow him. Finally 
his horse was shot from under him, but he landed on 
his feet and continued calling for his men to advance. 
He charged up the hill afoot. 

It seemed an age to the men who were watching, and 
to the Rough Riders the hill must have seemed like 
miles high. But they were undaunted. They went on, 
firing as fast as their guns would work. The shooting 
of the Tenth Cavalry was wonderful. Their ranks 
closed as fast as they were thinned. 

At last the top of the hill was reached. The Spaniards 
in the trenches could still have annihilated the Ameri- 
cans, but the Yankees' daring dazed them. They wav- 
ered'for an instant, and then turned and ran. As they 
ran our men coolly picked them off. 

The position was won and the blockhouse captured. 
Some of the guns also were captured, but not all of 
them. The men across the gulch cheered wildly as 
they saw their comrades' victory. The Riders cheered 
the Tenth, and the latter cheered the Riders. Then on 
they went to drive the Spaniards further. They found 
the trenches full of dead, but none alive. 



140 TEE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

In the rush more than half the Rough Riders were 
wounded. Though they had the hill, the position was 
still perilous on account of the sharpshooters. 

lawton's advance on the right. 

While this was going on, General Lawton was ad- 
vancing rapidly on El Caney. The Spaniards had pre- 
pared for attack, though they had run away when it be- 
gan. There were trenches everywhere. General Law- 
ton advanced, but was met by a hot rifle fire from the 
enemy in their intrenchments. Chaffee's Seventh, Sev- 
enteenth and Twelfth infantry still had no artillery. On 
the extreme right our men spread out, getting the pro- 
tection of the trees and bushes, and firing every time 
they saw a Spanish head. They were always advancing 
upon the outside line of trenches. The retreat of the 
Spaniards prevented a flank movement on our part. 

Captain Capron's artillery now resumed its firing, its 
target being a stone fort in front of the town. Every 
shot went true, but the guns were not big enough to do 
the necessary damage. They, however, made it so hot 
for the enemy that they had to leave several times. They 
always got back, though, before our infantry reached 
the outside of the town. The force was then split, going 
in two directions at the same time. The fighting be- 
fore they reached the town was nothing compared with 
their reception in the town. They were fired on from 



THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 141 

all sides by the enemy, who were concealed everywhere. 
The trenches in view were rilled with men, whose hats 
were visible. The Americans shot the hats to pieces, 
but killed none of the Spaniards, who had resorted to 
the old trick of placing their hats on sticks for onr men 
to shoot at. The breastworks in the northeast corner 
of the town did the most damage. This position was 
not discovered for a long time. It fired a hot. almost 
resistless fire upon our men. The Americans lay down 
to avoid it. The Spaniards had the range, however, 
and killed and wounded many of our men as they lay. 
The officers suffered particularly. 

General Chaffee dashed here and there, giving or- 
ders and calling on his men to fight for their lives and 
to help their country to win a victory. 

The battery was at last discovered, and that was the 
end of it. Every Spaniard who showed himself was 
picked off. The trenches ran with blood. Captain 
Capron at the same time silenced the fort again. Now 
was the time for the Americans to advance. With a 
yell they dashed in. led by their officers right up to the 
fort. Up the slope they went, still cheering, and cap- 
tured the position with scarcely a struggle. 

They were seen from the hills three miles away, anil 
the cheers from there could be heard by the victorious 
troops. There was one blockhouse left. Captain 
Clarke was detailed bv General Chaffee to take it with 



142 Till-: TERRIFIC STRUGGLE IV SANTIAGO. 

one company. 1 te advanced under an awful fire up and 
over the intrenchments, and the battle was won. The 
Spaniards retreated in disorder. Every street leading 

out of the town was filled with the fleeing enemy. One 
hundred and twenty-five of them were captured. 

THE SEVENTY-FIRST IX ACTION. 

The Seventy-first New York, which had been fol- 
lowing General Law-ton toward El Caney, found the 
road taken by the Twenty-fourth Regiment, who were 
using it as a firing line. The Seventy-first turned oflf 
to the left toward Santiago and joined the Sixth and 
Sixteenth regiments, all three belonging to the First 
Division of the Fifth Army Corps. Colonel Kent, of 
the Sixteenth Regiment, had a company of the Sev- 
enty-first's stragglers put out as pickets along the road 
guarded by Capt. M. A. Rafferty, of Company F, Sev- 
enty-first Regiment, who distinguished himself in the 
fighting. 

A Spanish blockhouse on a hill a mile away was giv- 
ing trouble. The Sixteenth Regiment advanced as skir- 
mishers. The Sixth Regiment advanced on the left and 
the Seventy-first on the right to support the Sixteenth. 
Captain Rafferty's company held the right of the line 
of skirmishers. Half a mile of the hill was wooded, 
which afforded protection to our men, but the last half 
mile was open, level land, where there was not the 



144 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

slightest chance to escape from the fire of the enemy. 
The skirmishers were half way across the open space, 
and it looked as though the capture of the blockhouse 
would be easy, when, without warning, the whole hill- 
side rained shot and shell upon the advancing line. 

The Spaniards had waited until there was no chance 
for our men to get back under cover before opening fire 
on them. 

The Seventy-first dashed out into the opening, facing 
the fire of shrapnel that burst in their ranks, tearing 
holes four men deep, while Mauser bullets kept drop- 
ping the men. The boys never wavered. They closed 
their ranks as they were torn open. They marched in 
the sweeping, deadly fire to the aid of the Sixteenth 
Regiment. The officers ran along the line calling upon 
their men to keep cool and move forward. They were 
in the most exposed position. Before they were half 
way across the field. the Seventy-first had lost over sev- 
enty men killed and wounded. 

The fire grew more awful every minute. The enemy 
were behind breastworks and out of sight. Tnto the 
face of this fire our men went. They broke into a run 
and headed straight into it. 

SPLENDID FIGHTTNG OF THE SEVENTY-FIRST AND 
SIXTH. 

The Sixth Regiment came out after the Seventy-first 
in the face of the same fire. Their ranks were cut to 



THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 145 

pieces, but there was no flinching. Right into the 
teeth of it, on across the open, cheering as they ran, the 
whole body dashed up the hill, the Spaniards still pour- 
ing their deadly fire into them. 

Half way up the hill our men caught sight of the en- 
emy, and for the first time returned their tire at close 
range, with deadly effect. Captain Rafferty's company 
was now leading. They dashed up the hill to its crest 
with bayonets fixed and charged on the trenches, driv- 
ing the Spaniards out at the point of the bayonet and 
shooting them as they fled. They captured the block- 
house, and before they were through the hill was cov- 
ered with dead Spaniards. The pits were also full of 
dead and wounded, who were thrown out by the Ameri- 
cans. Three Spaniards were captured. 

After the Americans had emptied the pits they occu- 
pied them themselves. Nearly every one of Captain 
Rafferty's men was wounded, but they refused to leave. 
They held the pit for an hour, until the sharpshooters 
and artillery on the next hill made it too hot for them. 
Captain Rafferty saw that he could not gain anything 
by holding the captured position, so he withdrew his 
men over the crest and half way down the hill out of 
range of the Spaniards. With reinforcements from his 
own regiment, he made a move to the left flank, his 
men crawling on their bellies until they got in position 
to concentrate their fire on the Spaniards on the other 



1-lfi TEE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

hill. They soon drove the enemy into their trenches 
and held this position for three-quarters of an hour, 
while the Seventy-first, Sixteenth and First regiments 
moved around to the right, and, in face of another 
blinding fire, charged up the second hill, dislodging the 
S] laniards, driving them out of their trenches and cap- 
turing some prisoners and a stand of colors. The 
Spaniards, who were driven off, reformed in other 
trenches and the battle went on for hours. The Span- 
iards tried to recapture their position, but were driven 
off again and again with heavy losses. 

The Americans passed on fighting and drove them 
out of their trenches again, the enemy leaving their 
dead and wounded behind them. 

FIRING ON OUR WOUNDED. 

It was at this point that the Spaniards showed them- 
selves incapable of carrying on civilized warfare, and 
acted in a way which many thought called for reprisals. 
They deliberately fired on our wounded as they were 
being taken from the field, but, fortunately, despite 
their evil intentions, they did little harm. 

At the latest reports the steady advance of the Amer- 
icans had carried them to within half a mile of Santiago. 

In the whole day's fighting Col. Wallace A. Downs, 
of the Seventy-first Regiment; Adjt. Alfred H. Abell, 



77//: TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 147 

of the Second Battalion, and Adjt. Harris B. Fisher 
were conspicuous for their bravery. 

Chaplain George Vanderwater was in the field. He 
was always in the thickest of the fight, encouraging the 
men and helping to dress wounds. He won the hearty 
admiration of his own men and also that of the regulars. 

CHARGING THROUGH THE JUNGLE. 

On every hilltop around Santiago was a blockhouse 
and intrenchments. There were probably twenty, all 
told. The San Juan river runs at the foot of the San 
Juan hill on the far side from the city. There was a 
blockhouse on its bank. The Ninth Cavalry was sent 
to capture it while the Seventy-first Regiment was do- 
ing its fighting. Four troops of the second squadron 
under Captain Dummick took up a position at the left 
of the advance. The First Brigade of the cavalry divi- 
sion moved around in sight of a series of blockhouses 
that dotted the country as they did at Guantanamo. In 
the jungle and brush the men got separated and could 
not see each other. They made their way by circui- 
tous routes, eight miles all told, beating the brush as 
they went. All met on the right of the Second Brigade, 
and now for the first time the enemy discovered them 
and commenced firing, first with rifles and then with 
Gatling guns. Our troops at once responded. They 
adopted Indian tactics, and sought shelter as much as 



148 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

possible, dodging from tree to tree, but always advanc- 
ing. The volley firing was not effective. 

A lot of our men saw the Spaniards moving from 
work to work and from brush to brush. They asked 
permission for the sharpshooters to get their work in, 
and got it. The Spaniards were only 300 yards away, 
and our boys picked off everyone who showed himself. 
Occasionally two or three were seen to cut and run for 
the rear. They were invariably brought down. Then 
the Spaniards became demoralized and their shooting 
was very wild. 

Meanwhile the Ninth, Cavalry advanced steadily. At 
3 o'clock in the afternoon the First and Tenth cavalry 
came up, as did also the Rough Riders, who, after their 
terrific fight, were also ready for more. Colonel Taylor 
took the Ninth out and flanked the enemy on the left, 
between our troops and the river. The jungle was up 
to their shoulders. All the troops advanced int.. this. 
The enemy had recovered meanwhile and was sending 
a heavy fire into our ranks. Men were dropping every- 
where. Some one set up the old-fashioned rebel yv\\ 
and the others took it up as one man. The soldiers 
leaped forward, charging and shooting across the field 
of manigua to the river. The steep banks were mud.lv. 
but our men dashed and slid down them, yelling like 
mad. Across the stream they went and up the other 
side, the Spaniards pouring shot and shell into them at 



THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 149 

a lively rate. They could no more stop the advance, 
however, than they could have stopped an avalanche. 

The blockhouse, ioo yards away, continued its fire 
and contested every inch of the advance. The yelling 
and enthusiastic Americans charged on the block- 
house, driving the enemy before them. They held their 
position for a while, but the enemy opened fire on them 
with heavy artillery from another hill. 

The enthusiasm of the Ninth Cavalry was at its high- 
est pitch, and so it was with the other troops. Only 
annihilation could drive them back; the Spaniards could 
not. Their fire was returned with rifles. The sharp- 
shooting was fine, Colonel Taylor directing it. 

The Americans held their position in spite of every- 
thing. 

STORMING SAN JUAN. 

Now there was but one position left to carry — San 
Juan itself. The batteries there were heavy, and there 
were earthworks everywhere, besides a stone house, 
which was an important defence. The whole hill was 
filled with Spaniards. All day long a balloon had been 
working, in charge of Lieutenant Maxfield. It was 
raised 200 feet, and from it Lieutenant Maxfield was 
able, from observation, to pick out the enemy's position 
in the brush and to send word to the earth to aid the 
soldiers in driving them out. He located all the enemy 
on the San Juan hill. The balloon was fired on fre- 



150 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

quently, and finally it had to be withdrawn two miles 
for safety. Even at that distance Lieutenant Maxfield 
was still able to give valuable aid. 

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon General Hawkins him- 
self, with the Third and Sixth cavalry and the Thir- 
teenth and Sixteenth infantry, started for the hill. The 
Rough Riders and Seventh, Ninth and Tenth regiments 
were the second in the line. The hill was steeper than 
any that had already been taken, and there were more 
Spaniards on it, with heavier guns, and the men knew 
how to use them. 

The charge was the greatest of the day and the mosl 
important, for the hill was the chief defence overlook- 
ing Santiago. General Hawkins called upon our men 
to charge. The Spanish fire seemed irresistible, but the 
men did not flinch. With yells they charged up the hill. 
The merciless shells tore gaps in their ranks, but on 
they went, inspired by General Hawkins and their offi- 
cers. Company E, of the Sixteenth Infantry, was the 
furthest in front. Captain McFarland was killed in the 
first moments of the rush. His company wavered *a 
moment, and then Lieutenant Carey jumped into the 
lead and yelled: "Come on, Company E!" The com- 
pany dashed on, but a few minutes later Lieutenant 
Carey was killed. None of the men seemed to realize 
the terrific, deadly fire that was being poured into their 
faces. On thev went like demons. The officers were 



152 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

everywhere ahead of their men. General Hawkins, 
with his sword waving, was in advance of all. 

Not only from the front, but from the side the hottest 
Kind of fire was directed against the Americans, cutting 
their ranks to pieces. There was no halt until the top 
of the hill was reached, when the Americans dashed 
among the Spaniards, drove them out and bayonetted 
and cut them to pieces. Captain Cavanagh planted the 
flag on the hilltop, and the sight of it caused unbounded 
enthusiasm. 

OUR FEARFUL LOSS. 

Our loss was fearful, but we had carried the position 
which commanded the city. The trenches were full of 
dead Spaniards. Each trench had contained thirty 
men, and twenty bodies were found in some of them 
and twenty-five in others. Some of our companies had 
only twenty or twenty-five men who were not wounded. 

The hill once carried, the work of strengthening the 
position began immediately. The stone house was still 
to be captured. During the afternoon the wounded, as 
they were being carried off, were constantly fired at by 
the Spaniards. The men who were carrying the 
wounded, and who were under the protection of the 
Red Cross, were shot down without the slightest com- 
punction by Spanish riflemen. The Americans took 
149 prisoners. 

The Second Massachusetts Regiment came up in the 



TEE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 153 

afternoon and aided in holding the position. Their 
Springfield rifles made so much smoke that it aided the 
enemy, and they were finally ordered to cease firing. 

Colonel Liscomb, of the Twenty-fourth Regiment, 
was shot through the lungs, and Captain O'Neill, of the 
Rough Riders, was killed in the same charge. 

While these fights were going on inland, Admiral 
Cervera's ships threw an occasional shell into the hills, 
but could not do much for fear of hurting their own 
men. Now and then, however, these shells caused 
havoc among our troops. 

THE FIGHT A* AGUADORES. 

General Duffield and his men had carried out their 
part in aiding our fleet. Aguadores, as has already 
been said, is on the seaside. Through the mountain, 
back of it, is a gulch through which the river and rail- 
road run. Batteries, said by the Cubans to be stronger 
than those at Santiago, are placed on rocky crags on 
the west of the gulch, while a masonry fort is situated 
on the east side, half a mile in shore. Between the fort 
and the shore was a railroad bridge over the river, which 
the Spaniards destroyed a week ago. The scenery is 
exactly like that of the Palisades. 

Shortly after daylight the New York moved up from 
the Santiago squadron and was followed by the Su- 
wanee and Gloucester. At 7 o'clock Dufficld's men 



1f»4 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

arrived on a railroad train, which stopped a mile east 
of the bridge. The Michigan men jumped oft, and, led 
by the Cubans, marched up the track. Meantime the 
old fort looked deserted, there being no sign of life any- 
where except on an embankment near the top of the 
ridge east of the gulch, where men were seen moving. 
The Suwanee moved in ahead of the flagship. Com- 
munication was established between the army and flag- 
ship by means of a white cloth tied to a stick, which 
was displayed from the top of the water tank. 

Eight troops started inland under the guidance of a 
Cuban. An hour later two volleys were heard, but no 
smoke was seen. The Gloucester, which was cleared 
for action, began to fire. She dropped three shells into 
one of the two rifle pits seen on the hill back and to the 
east. Clouds of dust were thrown np as the shells ex- 
ploded. The Suwanee then opened fire and was fol- 
lowed by the New York. 

THE SUWANEE OPENS THE BALL. 

The gunboat Suwanee started the shooting at the 
fort. The Gloucester banged away at everything in 
sight. The Suwanee got the range of the fort on the 
second shot. The New York's aim was magnificent lv 
true, the shore batteries being hit every time by her big 
shells, causing the hills to echo. 

Clouds of blue smoke, red with dust, obscured every- 



THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 155 

thing. This was kept up for an hour, and it seemed that 
every inch of the neighborhood had been plowed up 
by the warships' missies. In the meantime the Su- 
wanee kept pegging away at the fort. Every shell that 
went through must have killed many. They exploded 
inside. 

There was a huge red and yellow flag at the corner 
of the fort. Commander Delahanty fired and hit it just 
at the base of the staff. The men on the New York 
and Gloucester cheered lustily. No one was seen within 
the fort, but the tilted flagstaff was straightened. 

The commander fired four times and hit the fort 
every time, but not the flag 

MIGHTY GOOD MARKSMANSHIP. 

The fifth time the flag and staff were tilted again. 
The sixth shell struck the flag squarely in the middle, 
tearing the flag to ribbons; the seventh cut the pole in 
two — mighty good shooting at the range of 2000 yards. 

This splendid marksmanship was received with 
cheers and the roars of the warships' sirens. The men 
on the New York and Gloucester took so much interest 
in it that they had ceased firing. 

Now they resumed, and it rained shell everywhere. 
The fort was hit often. Rig holes were knocked in it, 
and blocks of granite were thrown into the air to fall 
into crumbled dust. So far the answering fire, if any, 



156 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE 17' SANTIAGO. 

was too feeble to be noticed. Now and then there was 
a puff of smoke at places where batteries were supposed 
to be. 

The next moment a shell from one of the ships would 
hit the spot. No shots from the forts were seen to hit. 

While the firing was going on the Yale, Newark and 
Vulcan arrived, crowded with soldiers. 

They ran alongside the New York. The soldiers 
cheered every shot. They wanted to land then, but the 
sun was too high. 

All the ships carried huge American flags. The 
Newark had the largest of the lot. She sailed away in 
under the guns of Morro, so that from her decks tin- 
Spaniards could be seen with the naked eye, but she 
didn't draw their fire, although she steamed up and 
down twice. She signalled to the New* York for per- 
mission to join in the fire against Aguadores, but the 
flagship answered no. The two little ones wanted the 
fun all to themselves. The Yale was sent to Siboney 
to unload. The Newark continued parading in front 
of Morro until u o'clock. Then firing ceased for half 
an hour and the ships took up new positions, opening 
again over the same ground, except the New York. 
She sent her shells up the valley as far as the eye could 
see, bursting and spreading death about them. 

After the second renewal of the firing the bushes 
parted and men in single file came out. The first car- 



TEE TERRIEIf 1 STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 157 

ried a Red Cross flag, the last had the same banner in 
his hand; the party had half a dozen wounded men and 
two dead. 

There was another stop at noon, then the firing was 
resumed with greater energy, the shots being aimed at 
the masked batteries. The result was not seen from 
the ships, but the soldiers inland saw the great shells 
passing over their heads burst. The firing lasted until 
2. 20 o'clock. The soldiers who came out said that the 
shells had ruined all the fortifications. 

OUR POSITION ON FRIDAY NIGHT. 

Darkness on Friday night saw our army entrenched 
everywhere before the city. The firing stopped then for 
a while. Just before dark the dynamite gun, which was 
with the Rough Riders, became jammed, but all day 
it was in running order and did telling work. It threw 
shells into Santiago itself. One wrecked a large build- 
ing, and soldiers could be seen running in every direc- 
tion from the explosion. 

DRESSING WOUNDS ALL NIGHT. 

Throughout the night the picket firing was constant. 
All the spare men were engaged in carrying the 
wounded back to Siboney and burying the dead on the 
battlefield. The wounded were carried in army wagons, 
which jolted over the stones during the weary passage 



158 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

of nine long miles. At Siboney doctors were ready 
and Red Cross nurses who had been landed from the 
steamer State of Texas. The nurses did wonderful 
work. The doctors say they could not do without 
them, and they want more. In the cases of a large per- 
centage of the wounded operations were necessary; the 
tables were filled and hundreds were waiting their turn. 
The work went on steadily all night by the light of small 
lanterns and candles. Tt was a strange scene in the 
huge tents. When their wounds had been dressed the 
men were carried out and laid upon the grass in 
blankets. 

Saturday's bombardment by the fleet. 

Orders were issued to the fleet last night to prepare to 
bombard. Before breakfast the line was formed. In 
the line were the Gloucester, New York, Newark, In- 
diana, Oregon, Iowa, Massachusetts, Texas, Brooklyn 
and Vixen in the order named. The gunners had re- 
ceived orders to fire slowly, but not to spare anything. 
The firing commenced at a signal raised upon the New 
York at ten minutes to 6 o'clock. The first shot was 
fired from the forward turret guns of the flagship. It 
was immediately answered by the batteries to the east 
and west of the harbor entrance. The other ships 
quickly took their cue from the New York, and the 
bombardment became general. Clouds of dust began 



160 TEE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

to rise from the hillsides. The Spanish guns replied 
for ten minutes. Then the men seemed to desert them. 
Sampson's fire was maintained steadily for halt an hour, 
when the New York was ordered out of the line. 

The maneuvering of the big battleships during the 
action in front of Santiago evidently surprised the en- 
emy. As the ships changed positions, moving on to 
give those behind them a chance at the forts, the Span- 
iards began to shout, evidently thinking they were re- 
tiring disabled. But it was a sorry day for them, for 
every shot was answered by one which struck almost 
the exact spot whence the last tell-tale puff of smoke 
came from the, Spanish batteries. The Oregon, which 
led the way, firing deliberately, sailed in almost to the 
entrance of the harbor. The Indiana swung in to the 
east of the Oregon. When she opened up everyone of 
her guns was brought to bear, and they were observed 
by the dust and the masses of earth and brick, with 
here and there a cannon hurled high into the air. The 
ship was concealed by smoke, but, belching fire every 
second, she rained shells true to the mark until the 
east battery ceased to answer. 

The fighting was resumed about 5 o'clock on Satur- 
day morning. The Spaniards made a desperate effort 
to recapture San Juan hill. The hill was assaulted 
again and again, and each time the enemy was driven 
back with awful loss. Our Hotchkiss guns did great 



THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 161 

execution. Finally the enemy was driven back upon 
the third intrenchment. Then the sharpshooting be- 
gan. We tried to plant a battery to dislodge them, but 
the fire was too hot. Man)- men were wounded, includ- 
ing a major of the Second Artillery. Finally the at- 
tempt to plant a battery there was abandoned. Another 
place was selected out of range, but whence great dam- 
age could be done against San Juan blockhouse. 
Once planted the battery opened fire, and an assault 
was made immediately upon the blockhouse. It was 
not over when the dispatch boat left. 

On the other hills Major Dillenbock, of the First Ar- 
tillery, commanding the American artillery, opened fire 
upon the Spanish intrenchments outside Santiago. 
With him were Parkhurst's, Grimes's and Burt's bat- 
teries. Ten minutes after the firing was begun Cap- 
tain Parkhurst was shot and badly wounded. 

A lot of others were disabled, the batteries not being 
strongly supported by the infantry and the position be- 
ing exposed to a raking fire from the Spanish sharp- 
shooters. The guns were withdrawn and taken to the 
hill at El Pozo, from which Captain Capron's batten- 
was shelling the Spanish lines. 

General Lawton marched from El Caney upon San 
tiago at the same time that the Ninth Massachusetts 
and the Twenty-third and Thirty-fourth Michigan 
came up the railroad track from Siboney. 



1(!2 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

This was the position of the army when the last 
couriers left. There was fighting upon all sides, driving 
the Spaniards back inch by inch, but always back. The 
city was within easy reach; our heavy artillery was 
badly needed, but was not there. 

KNOCKED MORRO'S FLAG OVER. 

The Oregon took Morro Castle for her mark, and 
she knocked great holes in it everywhere. The big flag 
on the castle, which had waved lazily above the smoke 
nf every engagement, was lost sight of when the Ore- 
gon opened fire at just 7 o'clock. As the flag was 
knocked over the exultant yell from the battleship was 
taken up on the other ships and wild cheering fol- 
lowed. 

One shell struck the face of the old castle, which was 
now running rivulets of crumbled stone. At the next 
: hot a large section of the ramparts seemed to be car- 
vied away. After this there was no reply. 

The Oregon and Indiana were then ordered inshore 
until their guns were brought to bear upon the I'unta 
Gorda battery, behind Morro. They passed to the west 
directly under all the outer guns, firing quickly as they 
went. The result was not seen, but the bursting of the 
shells was heard. If the result was not seen outside it 
was by the American troops on El 1'ozo. 

A great explosion was seen on Tivoli Hill, where 



THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 163 

Punta Gorda is, and there were thirty distinct explo- 
sions, all within a small area. Everything within it was 
blown to pieces, and the damage must have been ter- 
rific. The firing lasted until 8 o'clock. No flag flew on 
Morro after that during the day. 

The last part of the shooting from the fleet was spec- 
tacular. All the shells landed in or near the batteries. 
The whole hill was a cloud of smoke, dust and flying 
earthworks. As usual, when the fleet drew off the 
Spanish battery to the west of the harbor entrance fired 
thref or four parting shells that did no harm. None of 
our ships was hit at any time. 

THE FORMAL SURRENDER. 

A correspondent of the New York Herald, writing 
from Santiago de Cuba, thus describes the formal sur- 
render of the Spanish to the American forces: 

As the two commanders moved toward each other, 
their horses advancing at a slow walk, the adjacent hills 
were thronged with officers and soldiers of the con- 
quered and conquering armies. During the night the 
Spaniards had vacated their trenches, but groups were 
scattered all along the plateau which fronts our lines 
on that side. By General Shafter's order a line of sen- 
tries had been stationed at the outer limits of our lines, 
with instructions to permit none of our soldiers to pass 
bevond. 



164 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

General Shafter and General Toral met about half 
way between the lines. The Spanish general and his 
staff, immaculately clad, approached General Shafter's 
part\- slowly. As the two commanders neared each 
other they rode slightly in advance of their attending 
officers, and when within easy speaking distance drew 
rein simultaneously and raised their hats. 

Immediately every officer on both sides uncovered 
his head and remained so until Shafter and Toral had 
replaced their hats. At the same moment General 
Shafter's cavalry escort deployed and presented sabres, 
to which the Spanish infantry responded by presenting 
arms. 

After exchanging salutations General Shafter took 
from Lieutenant Miley the sword and spurs of General 
Vera del Rev, who died bravely defending El Caney on 
July i, and presented them to General Toral with his 
compliments. 

General Toral appeared to be much affected as he 
received these souvenirs of his dead comrade in arms. 
He warmly thanked General Shafter and handed the 
sword and spurs to Colonel Fontaine, his chief of staff. 

General Shafter then announced that he was ready 
to receive the surrender of the city under the terms of 
capitulation already agreed upon and signed. 

General Toral, speaking in Spanish, then said: 

"I deliver up the city and province of Santiago de 
Tuba into the authority of the United States." 



THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 165 

General Toral then made a motion as if to offer his 
sword, but this instantly was checked by General 
Shaffer. 

General Toral and the members of his staff were 
then introduced to the principal American officers. 
While this function was under way the Ninth Regular 
Infantry, in full marching order, advanced from our 
lines. 

The American infantry took a position at the rear, 
having been selected as the regiment to occupy the city. 
They carried dog tents, haversacks and cooking uten- 
sils. At the same time the Thirteenth Infantry de- 
scended into the valley to receive the Spanish garrison, 
which began to emerge from the city and which slow- 
marched along the broad road until within 30c yards of 
our lines. 

As the Spanish soldiers filed past General Toral they 
saluted him, and he gravely bowed acknowledgment 
with sorrowful face. To the front the officers went and 
stacked their arms and then moved along into positions 
where the men could recline on the grass. The mem- 
bers of the garrison carried camp equipage and will not 
re-enter the city until ready to embark. 

This formality being over. General Toral saluted 
General Shaffer and turned toward the city. General 
Wheeler wheeled his horse, and the two commanders, 
conqueror and conquered, enter Santiago side by side. 



166 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

The entire population of the city lined the streets or 
gazed upon the procession from the housetops and 
windows. A majority of the people seemed pleased to 
see the Americans enter, and welcomed our soldiers 
with glad faces and smiles. 

The cavalcade passed slowly through the streets until 
the plaza was reached. In front of the governor's pal- 
ace the two generals and the members of their staffs 
dismounted. 

The grand reception hall in the governor's palace 
had been prepared for the occasion. In a beautiful 
room, with high frescoed ceilings, General Toral for- 
mally turned over the city to General Shafter. General 
Ross and all the officials of the province and the muni- 
cipality were formally presented to General Shafter 
and his officers in the order of their rank. 

When the venerable Archbishop of Santiago entered 
there was a dramatic pause. The aged prelate, regally 
attired in his official robes of scarlet, came through an 
arched entrance, followed by four priests robed in 
white. When he was presented to General Shafter he 
bowed courteously and expressed gratification that 
further bloodshed had been averted. 

The archbishop added that he hoped for peace be- 
tween the two nations on terms as honorable to Spain 
as was this capitulation. 

Tt was difficult for the onlookers to realize that this 



168 THE TERRIFIC STRUGGLE AT SANTIAGO. 

was the same man who, only a few weeks before, had 
given expression to such bloodthirsty defiance of the 
United States. 

It was now noon, the hour set for raising the Ameri- 
can flag over the governor's house. Up to this hour 
the time had passed pleasantly, the American and 
Spanish officers at the palace intermingling without re- 
straint. Everybody had been chatting pleasantly. Gen- 
eral Toral moved about, introducing different persons 
present and being apparently in the best of spirits. 

Captain McKittrick, Lieutenant Wheeler and Lieu- 
tenant Miley had been selected to perform the cere- 
mony of unfurling the flag, and at five minutes before 
noon they ascended to the cupola of the palace. As the 
cathedral bells rang out the hour of noon the stars and 
stripes shot to the top of the flagpole where for centu- 
ries had waved the banner of Spain. 

General Shafter, General Wheeler and every Ameri- 
can present uncovered, while the soldiers presented 
arms and the band played "The Star-Spangled Banner." 

With rare courtesy General Toral and his staff also 
uncovered and remained in that attitude until the 
strains of the music ceased. 



NAVAL BATTLE AT SANTIAGO. 169 



CHAPTER V. 
NAVAL BATTLE AT SANTIAGO. 

CERVERA MADE A GREAT EFFORT, BUT IN TWO HOURS HIS FLEET 
WAS WRECKED — RIDDLED WITH SHELLS — HEAVY ARMOR, 
TOO, WAS PERFORATED WITH PROJECTILES FROM AMERICAN 
GUNS. 

Magnificent beyond description was the bold dash by which 
Cervera attempted to get his fleet out of Santiago harbor 
Cervera himself led the way with his flagship, the Cristobal 
Colon. It was to be a dash to liberty or to death, and the 
Spanish admiral made the plunge with eyes open. 

Sunday quiet rested over the entrance to Santiago harbor. 
No signs of life were visible about old Morro. Beyond and 
toward the city of Santiago all was still. After two days of 
fighting the armies of both nations were resting in their 
trenches. Off this way, for half a dozen miles from shore, most 
of the vessels of Admiral Sampson's fleet lay lazily at anchor. 

Admiral Sampson had set out in the morning to dislodge the 
Spanish from their works at Aguadores, where the Michigan 
troops were repulsed along the line of railway Saturday morn- 
ing while they were marching westward to seize the Morro 
battery and blow up the fort. The American torpedo-boats 
were not with the fleet. When Admiral Sampson left the 
Morro the battleships and the cruiser Brooklyn were grouped 
off the harbor mouth. 

COLON DARTED OUT FIRST. 

It is not known whether Admiral Cervera blew up the Mer- 
rimac or passed it in single column. The Cristobal Colon first 
glided out of the harbor and shot to the westward. Her two 
funnels and high, black bulwarks showed plain against the 



17<i If AVAL B VTTLE I / S I \ II WO. 

green of the hills, her pennant and the Spanish red and yellow 
ensign waving above. 

In a few seconds the American fleet was in motion, the In- 
diana, which was closest, heading straight in shore to get close 
range. The Spaniards opened Are with an u-inch Hontoria 
gun, and mighty fountains of water rose above the battleship 
and wet her decks. The shell fell near her bow. 

The Indiana replied with her 13-inch guns, and a moment 
later let go everything she could bring to bear. 

One of the first shells fell on the Spanish cruiser's deck. 
Cervera was then going past, and the Indiana rounded to give 
him a broadside. As the Iowa and the Texas opened fire the 
Almirante Oquendo was just coming into view in the harbor 
mouth. 

At first one could hardly believe his eyes, but when the 
Oquendo appeared and steamed swiftly westward into the 
smoke, where Cervera's flag still flew, it flashed upon those on 
the American fleet that here was to be history-making indeed. 
It was a sublime spectacle of a desperate admiral, who had de- 
cided to give battle against overwhelming odds in the open 
water rather than remain and blow up his own ships in the 
harbor of the beleaguered city. 

SPANISH FIRED BROADSIDES. 

Cervera's flag was hidden for a time as he fled westward, his 
port broadside emitting flashes of flame, which marked his 
progress. For the next five minutes he ran a gauntlet such as 
few ships had ever run in history. 

The Indiana fell on the Oquendo, paying no heed to the 
Morro battery, whose gunners tried hard to protect the cruiser 
as she moved to the westward. The Iowa let Cervera go on 
into the hands of the Oregon, Massachusetts and Brooklyn, 
and then turned, with the Texas, to pound the Oquendo. Soon 
every American ship in the vicinity was in action. Smoke 
shrouded the coast and blew away lazily, revealing geysers 
about the ships where the Spanish shells from the cruisers and 
the Morro tore the water. 



NAVAL BATTLE AT SANTIAGO. 171 

Another ship emerged from the harbor. It was the Vizcaya, 
coming at full speed, smoke curling over her bow as she took 
her course to the westward and brought her bow guns into 
play. 

Next came the Infanta Maria Teresa and Spain's two dreaded 
torpedo-boat destroyers, perhaps 200 yards apart. The Maria 
Teresa was received with a terrific storm of shells. Smashed 
and on fire she was beached close to the Morro. 



AMERICAN STRATEGY 

The Iowa steamed for a time forward with the Oquendo and 
the Indiana did the same with the Vizcaya. As the fight thus 
moved westward it became clear that the Americans were will- 
ing that the Spanish ships should run far enough from the 
Morro to lose the aid of the guns there, and in twenty minutes 
this was done. 

Both the Oquendo and the Vizcaya were sometimes within 
1000 yards of the Indiana. The range varied, but, as a rule, it 
was short and extremely deadly. Nevertheless, the high speed 
and thick armor of their class stood the Spanish ships in good 
stead as they followed in the path of honor marked out by 
Admiral Cervera. 

Three-quarters of an hour after the action began it was evi- 
dent that the Spanish had many guns disabled and would have 
to surrender. There were terrible casualties on the enemy's 
ships. As the smoke cleared a little one could see the Spanish 
flagship, her port broadside spouting smoke, still holding on 
to the westward. 

The Texas and the Massachusetts joined the Indiana and the 
Iowa. The Oquendo and the Vizcaya hugged the shore and 
steamed after Cervera on the Colon, to go with him to defeat 
and death. 

SHIPS SET ON FIRE. 

Shells burst on the decks of the Spanish cruisers at short 
intervals. Often the ships were on fire, but again and again 



172 NAVAL BATTLE AT SANTIAGO. 

their crews extinguished the flames and manned again and 
again the guns from which they had been driven. 

The green coast smoked with the shells which flew over 
them, and crashing sounds heard amid the thunder of great 
rifles told of armor-piercing shells driven into and through the 
protected sides of Cervera's ships. Still they fired. Their 
shots fell about the Indiana and Iowa thickly. 

GREAT WORK OF THE GLOUCESTER. 

Lieutenant-Commander Wainwright, of the Gloucester, like 
Nelson, seemed to have a blind eye. If he were signalled to 
pull out, he remained, with his six-pounders, to do work 
which was both heroic and astonishing. At one time the 
Gloucester was being fired at by the Vizcaya, both torpedo- 
boat destroyers and the Morro battery. That she was not 
sunk and that she had enough men left to work her guns was 
marvelous. 

She lay close in to where the Vizcaya came out, and ran 
along parallel, firing at the cruiser as fiercely in proportion to 
her size as did the Indiana and Iowa. Captain Eulate, of the 
Vizcaya, probably feared a torpedo from the Gloucester, for 
he turned loose his secondary battery at her as he passed on 
into a storm of shells from the battleships. 

Then the destroyers came on, and the Gloucester accepted 
them at once as parts of her contract. These destroyers were 
strong in machine guns and guns of the three and six-pounder 
i lass. It seemed that smoke jets burst from them in twenty 
places as they slipped along after the Vizcaya. The water all 
about the Gloucester was kept splashing by shells and by bul- 
lets from machine guns. But the yacht steamed ahead, keep- 
ing the destroyers directly between her and the shore and ham- 
mering them. The Morro was throwing shells from behind, 
and occasionally the Vizcaya turned a gun or two to aid her 
followers. 

In ten minutes the fire of the destroyers slackened, but, 
although some of their guns were disabled, their machinery 



NAVAL BATTLE AT SANTIAGO. 173 

was all right, and they moved on until Morro could no longer 
take part in the battle. 

THE NEW YORK TAKES PART. 

Then the New York appeared, having been summoned to 
return from Aguadores. She was six miles away when the de- 
stroyers saw her. The Morro thundered at Sampson as he 
came within range, but the Admiral never heeded, seeing only 
in the distance the dim forms of the Vizcaya and the Oquendo, 
hopelessly hemmed in by a circle of fire, and in the foreground 
the Gloucester, fighting two destroyers at short range. 

When the destroyers saw the flagship they sped away from 
the Gloucester and tried to overtake the Vizcaya and get into 
shelter on her starboard side. If that could not be done there 
ought to be a chance to torpedo the Indiana and break through 
our line to the open sea, where speed would save them, but the 
Indiana steamed in shore and the Iowa went further away. 

The Indiana's secondary battery had the first destroyer's 
range, and rained shells upon her. Splintered and torn, but 
still with their steering gear and machinery intact, both de- 
stroyers turned back to run for the mouth of the harbor and 
seek safety inside, but it was too late. The fight had been 
carried nearly four miles west of the Morro, and the New York 
was already past the harbor mouth. 

The Gloucester was ready for the destroyers close at hand. 
She and the destroyers and the Indiana formed a triangle of 
which the destroyers were the apex, and the American fire, 
converging, was too fierce for human beings to withstand. 

A CARNIVAL OF DESTRUCTION. 

One destroyer drifted into the surf of fire a battered wreck, 
and then crept on toward the Gloucester and the New York, 
with her guns silent and showing a flag of truce. She was on 
fire, and her crew ran her ashore to save the lives of those who 
had escaped the shells. She blew up soon after they abandoned 
her. 



174 \ I I I/, BATTLE AT SANTIAGO. 

The Spanish admiral was lost in smoke to the westward, 
when the Oquendo went ashore, with flames bursting from her 
decks. The Iowa, Indiana, Texas and Massachusetts ceased 
firing, the Massachusetts going to join the Oregon and the 
Brooklyn in hunting up and smashing Cervera's ship. 

Once headed off the Oquendo turned into a small bay four 
or five miles west of Santiago, where she lay close to the land. 
With an ever-weakening broadside the Vizcaya followed, first 
heading out as if to break through the line of battle. The In- 
diana and Iowa closed in, and their formation made her escape 
in that direction impossible. 

Captain Eulate then attempted to reach the east side of the 
bay, occupied by the Oquendo. but in vain. The Vizcaya's bul- 
warks near the stern had been torn away. Smoke poured out 
where shells had exploded inside, and she was on fire. Her 
guns, with the exception of those forward, were out of action. 
Her bow guns were still fired at intervals. Those who were 
not working the bow guns crowded forward to escape the 
smoke and fire aft. 

The Oquendo was soon ashore, her guns silent and smoke 
rising in thick, black clouds from her. 

There was a thundering of guns to the westward now, and 
flashes told that Cervera still fought, but to the eastward of 
his ship lay the burning wrecks of his two destroyers. 

The torpedo-boat Ericcson was seen coming along with the 
New York. The Indiana and the Iowa were closing in, and 
shell after shell burst above and aboard the Vizcaya. Eulate 
hoisted a white flag as his ship went ashore to save the rem- 
nant of his men. Simultaneously up went a flag of white on 
the Oquendo, and down came the flag of Spain. 



BUT ONE SHIP LEFT. 

An hour and one-half had elapsed since Cervera left the har- 
bor, and of the vessels which came out only his flagship was 
still in action. 

Cervera passed the bay in which the Oquendo had sought 
refuge and held on a due westward course close to the land, but 



176 NAVAL BATTLE AT SANTIAGO. 

evidently nourishing the desperate hope that he might break 
through the line and reach free water. He had passed in suc- 
cession the Indiana, the Iowa and the Texas, not to speak of 
the little Gloucester, which spouted six-pounder shells at him. 
Since his Hag had appeared outside the harbor his ship had 
been struck again and again. By this time the Vizcaya and 
the Oquendo were beaten, but in spite of the 12 and 13-inch 
shells that were rained upon him at a range which was short 
for such guns, in spite of the fact that his boilers and machinery 
were damaged, he held his course. From a point a mile west 
of the Morro the Cristobal Colon was invisible frequently in 
low-hanging smoke from her own guns and also that which 
drifted in shore from the battleships. 

CERVERA HEADED OFF. 

At half-past 11 o'clock Cervera saw the Oregon coming in 
shore ahead of him to round him to. The smoke was very 
thick. The firing was incessant. 

Cervera's available guns were no longer well served. Shells 
had set fire to his ship near the stem, and the flames were con- 
trolled with difficulty, but the Spanish admiral altered his 
course and headed off from the coast, as if to attempt to pass 
litiween the ships and run for it. 

It was impossible. The Iowa and the Texas were already 
moving down to close the gap, and the Spanish flagship, raked 
by the Oregon and the Brooklyn at from 1000 to 3000 yards, 
and by the Iowa and the Texas at longer range, turned in 
shore again and ran for the rocks, where the surf was breaking. 
Cervera still replied occasionally. 

FLAGSHIP TN A BLAZE. 

But his ship moved slowly now. as if disabled, and in a few 
minutes more his guns were silent. Black smoke replaced the 
swirling white. The flagship was aflame. Her men had been 
unable either to work the guns or smother the flames caused 
by bursting shells, and she was headed for the rocks. 



NAVAL BATTLE AT SANTIAGO. 177, 

She struck bow on and rested there. Red flames burst 
tli rough the black smoke, and soon a pillar of cloud rose 
straight up iooo feet and then bent against the green moun- 
tain. 

Cervera's ship was hopelessly lost. The American battle- 
ships ceased firing before she struck, and ran in, apparently 
with the intention of saving the survivors as prisoners. This 
was evidently expected by the Spaniards, hundreds of whom 
thronged the forward deck, watching the flames eating their 
way toward them. These were taken prisoners. 

INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE. 
vizcaya's awful plight. 

Captain Usher, of the Ericcson. made a hard run to get a 
shot at the Vizcaya. but a white flag was floating over Captain 
Eulate's vessel when the Ericcson came up. "The American 
shells had torn holes through the Vizcaya's 12-inch plates," 
said Captain Usher afterward, "and through them I could see 
naked men. bloody and gashed, roasting in the shell of the 
boat. Her guns had been left shotted and were going off by 
themselves from heat, but by care we were able to get along- 
side. 

"Her decks and sides were almost red-hot. Two men were 
climbing down a davit tackle, and, as the ship rolled, they 
would swing against her scorching side, then swing back and 
out again. 

"I took 1 10 men off the Vizcaya, all as naked as when they 
were born. I know of no worse sight than naked men, with 
bleeding wounds exposed. One swam toward me. 'Are you 
also an officer?' I asked. 'No.' he answered; 'only a mournful 
soldier.' " 

QUICK WORK BY THE FLEET. 

The following was written by a naval officer on the battleship 
Iowa: 
A little after three bells in the forenoon watch the inspection 



ITS VAVAL BATTLE AT SANTIAGO. 

of our ship had been concluded, and as the officer of the watch 
was relieving the navigating officer he heard a quick cry to call 
the captain, followed by a shout: 

"There come the Spaniards out of the harbor!" 

The trained eye of the alert officer had marked the thin trail 
of drifting smoke, and before the signals, "Clear ship for ac- 
tion, " had been given the bows of the Spanish vessels, rushing 
in "line ahead," were seen darting around Zocapa point for 
the open sea. 

In a moment all was bustle and trained energy. Men rushed 
to their quarters, guns were trained, and in less than twenty 
seconds the whistling shriek of a rapid-fire gun warned the 
startled fleet of the hot work awaiting. In two minutes every 
gun on shipboard was cast loose, manned, loaded and ready 
for the long-expected signal to fire. 

At the yardarm of our battleship a string of signal flags 
warned the fleet that the enemy was trying to escape, but even 
before the answering pennants of the other ships announced 
their understanding of the message every vessels was dashing 
to the stations long before allotted for the emergency which 
had come at last. 

It was a splendid spectacle. The Spaniards, with bottled 
steam, cleared the harbor's mouth, seemingly in a moment. 
Under their eager prows a column of foam whitened the long 
billows and their bubbling wakes left a furrow as sharp as a 
racing yacht making a winning run for the finish line. Their 
course was shaped for the westward, but as fast as they sped 
in their desperate break for freedom, faster flew the shells of 
the pursuing Americans. 

The first heavy shell from the Iowa's battery fell short, and 
then by a mischance so did the second, but afterward the rain 
of shot fell surely and unsparingly upon the fleeing foe. 

Not a whit behind in this eager fusilade roared the batteries 
of the Spanish ships. Their port broadsides flamed, but it was 
more a splendid display of fireworks than a successful effort 
to damage the targets of our ships. 

In fifteen minutes after they were discovered the four Span- 
ish armored cruisers had cleared the wide entrance, and five 



NAVAL BATTLE AT SANTIAGO. 179 

minutes later the torpedo-boat destroyers, hugging the beach 
and seeking the sheltering broadsides of their sister ships, flew 
into the turmoil of the action. At this time every gun of the 
American squadron that could be brought to bear was pump- 
ing projectiles into the enemy. 

In an instant, it almost seemed, a ship of the Vizcaya class 
burst into flames, caused, undoubtedly, by a long, sure shot 
from the Oregon or the Texas. A minute later a 12-inch 
projectile struck the flagship Maria Teresa near her after- 
smokepipe. A tremendous explosion followed. Then she was 
shrouded in smoke and was lighted with lurid flames; and 
when the powder cloud blew down she was seen helm hard 
aport rushing for the beach. 

Twenty-five minutes after the first ship had been sighted 
half the Spanish fleet had surrendered or was on fire. The 
remainder of the battle was easy. 



COMMANDER OF THE IOWA TELLS OF CERVERA S DESTRUCTION. 

Captain Evans's account of the battle, as told in the cabin of 
the Iowa to a correspondent of the Associated Press, is in- 
tensely interesting. He said: 

"At the time 'general quarters' was sounded the engine bell 
rang full speed ahead, and I put the helm to starboard and the 
Iowa crossed the bows of the Infanta Maria Teresa, the first 
ship out. As the Spanish admiral swung to the westward the 
12-inch shells from the forward turret of the Iowa seemed to 
strike him fair in the bow, and the fight was a spectacle. 

"As the squadron came out in column, the ships beautifully 
spaced as to distance, and gradually increasing their speed to 
their thirteen knots, it was superb. 

"The Iowa, from this moment, kept up a steady fire from her 
heavy guns, heading all the time to keep the Infanta Maria 
Teresa on her starboard bow and hoping to ram one of the 
leading ships. 

"In the meantime, the Oregon, Indiana, Brooklyn and 
Texas were doing excellent work with their heavy guns. 

"In a very short space of time the enemy's ships were all 



180 NAVAL BATTLE AT SANTIAGO. 

clear of the harbor mouth, and it became evidently impossible 
for the Iowa to ram either the first or the second ship on ac- 
count of their speed. 

A BROADSIDE AT 2000 YARDS. 

"The range at this time was 2000 yards from the leading 
ship. The Iowa's helm was immediately put hard to the star- 
board and the entire starboard broadside was poured into the 
Infanta Maria Teresa. The helm was then quickly shifted to 
port and the ship headed across the stern of the Teresa in an 
effort to head off the Oquendo. All the time the engines were 
driving at full speed ahead. A perfect torrent of shells from 
the enemy passed over the smokestacks and superstructure of 
the ship, but none struck her. 

"The Cristobal Colon, being much faster than the rest of 
the Spanish ^liips, passed rapidly to the front in an effort to 
escape. In passing the Iowa the Colon placed two six-inch 
shells fairly in otir starboard bow. One passed through the 
cofferdam and dispensary, wrecking the latter and bursting 
on the berth deck, doing considerable damage. The other 
passed through the side at the water-line with the cofferdam, 
where it still remains. 

"As it was now obviously impossible to ram any of the 
Spanish ships on account of their superior speed, the Iowa's 
helm was put to the starboard and she ran on a course parallel 
with the enemy. 

TERRIFIC PUNISHMENT OF THE OQUENDO. 

"Being then abreast of the Almirante Oquendo, at a dis- 
tance of 1 100 yards, the Iowa's entire battery, including the 
rapid-fire guns, was opened on the Oquendo. The punishment 
was terrific. Many twelve and 8-inch shells were seen to ex- 
plode inside of her, and smoke came out through her hatches. 
Two 12-inch shells from the Iowa pierced the Almirante 
Oquendo at the same moment, one forward and the other aft. 
The Oquendo seemed to stop her engines for a moment and 



NATAL BATTLE AT SANTIAGO. 181 

lost headway, but she immediately resumed her speed and 
gradually drew ahead of the Iowa and came under the terrific 
fire of the Oregon and Texas. 



RECKONING WITH THE TORPEDO-BOATS. 

"At this moment the alarm of 'torpedo-boats' was sounded, 
and two torpedo-boat destroyers were discovered in the star 
board quarters at a distance of 4000 yards. Fire was at once 
opened on them with the after-battery, and a 12-inch shell cut 
the stern of one destroyer squarely off. As the shell struck a 
torpedo-boat fired back at the battleship, sending a shell 
within a few feet of my head. I said to Executive Officer 
Rogers. 'That little chap has got a lot of cheek.' Rogers 
shouted back, 'She shoots very well, all the same.' 

"Well among the advancing cruisers, spitting shots at one 
and then at another, was the little Gloucester, shooting first at 
a cruiser and then at a torpedo-boat and hitting a head 
wherever she saw it. The marvel was that she was not de- 
stroyed bv the rain c shells. 



THE VIZCAYA GETS HER DOSE. 

"In the meantime the Vizcaya was slowly drawing abeam of 
the Iowa, and for the space of fifteen minutes it was give and 
lake between the two ships. The Vizcaya fired rapidly but 
wildly, not one shot taking effect on the Iowa, while the shell: 
from the Iowa were tearing great rents in the sides of the 
Vizcaya. As the latter passed ahead of the Iowa she came 
under the murderous fire of the Oregon. At this time th : 
Infanta Maria Teresa and the Almirante Oquendo. leading the 
enemy's column, were seen to be heading for the beach and in 
(lames. The Texas. Oregon and Iowa pounded them unmerci- 
fully. They ceased to reply to the fire, and in a few minutes 
the Spanish cruisers were a mass of flames and on the rocks 
with their colors down, the Teresa flying a white flag at the 
fore. 



182 NAVAL BATTLE AT SANTIAGO. 

"The crews of the enemy's ships stripped themselves and 
began jumping overboard, and one of the smaller magazines 
began to explode. 

"Meanwhile the Brooklyn and the Cristobal Colon were ex- 
changing compliments in a likely fashion at apparently long 
range, and the Oregon, with her locomotive speed, was hang- 
ing well on the Colon and also paying attention to the 
Vizcaya. 

"The Teresa and the Oquendo were in flames on the beach 
just twenty minutes alter the first shot was fired. Fifty min- 
utes after the first shot was fired the Vizcaya put her helm to 
port, with a great burst of flame from the after part of the 
ship, and headed slowly for the rocks at Aserradero, where 
she found her last resting place. 



THE END OF THE VIZCAYA. 

"As it was apparent that the Iowa could not possibly catch 
the Cristobal Colon, and that the Oregon and Brooklyn un- 
doubtedly would, and as the last Xew York was also on her 
trail, I decided that the calls of humanity should be answered 
and attention given to the 1200 or 1500 Spanish officers and 
men who had struck their colors to the American squadron 
commanded by Admiral Sampson. 

"I, therefore, headed for the wreck of the Vizcaya, now burn- 
ing furiously fore and aft. When I was in as far as the depth 
of water would admit I lowered all my boats and sent them at 
once to the assistance of the unfortunate men, who were being 
drowned by dozens or roasted on the decks. 

"I soon discovered that the insurgent Cubans from the 
-hore were shooting on men who were struggling in the water 
after having surrendered to us. I immediately put a stop to 
this, but I could not put a stop to the mutilation of many 
bodies by the sharks inside the reef. 

"These creatures had become excited by the blood from the 
wounded mixing in the water. 



184 Y 1 I I/, If I 7 7/./: AT SANTIAGO. 

PRAISE FOR HIS BRAVE CREW. 

"My boat's crews worked man fully and succeeded in saving 
many of the wounded from the burning ship. 

"One man who will be recommended for promotion clam- 
bered up the side of the Vizcaya and saved three men from 
I inning to death. The smaller magazines of the Vizcaya were 
exploding with magnificent cloud effects. The boats were 
coming alongside in a steady string, and willing hands were 
helping the lacerated Spanish officers and sailors on to the 
Iowa's quarterdeck. All the Spaniards were absolutely with- 
out clothes. Some had their legs torn off by fragments of 
shells. Others were mutilated in every conceivable way. 

"The bottoms of the boats held two or three inches of blood. 
In many cases dead men were lying in the blood. Five poor 
chaps died on the way to the ship. They were afterward 
buried with military honors from the Iowa. Some examples 
of heroism, or, more properly, devotion to discipline and duty, 
could never be >urpassed. One man on the lost Vizcaya had 
his left arm almost shot off just below the shoulder. The 
fragments were hanging by a small piece of skin; but he 
climbed unassisted over the side and saluted as if on a visit of 
ceremony. Immediately after him came a strong, hearty sailor, 
whose left leg had been shot off above the knee. He was 
hoisted on board the Iowa with a tackle, but never a whimper 
came from him. Gradually the mangled bodies and naked well 
men accumulated until it would have been most difficult to 
recognize it as a United States battleship. 



CAPTAIN EULATE IN TEARS. 

"Blood was all over her usually white quarterdeck, and 272 
naked men were being supplied with water and food by those 
who a few minutes before had been using a rapid-fire gun on 
them. Finally came two boats with Captain Eulate, com- 
mander of the Vizcaya, for whom a chair was lowered over the 
side, as he was evidently wounded. The captain's guard of 
marines was drawn up on the quarterdeck to salute him. and 



NAVAL BATTLE AT SANTIAGO. 185 

I stood waiting to welcome him. As the chair was placed on 
the deck the marines presented arms. Captain Eulate slowly 
raised himself in the chair, saluted me with grave dignity, un- 
buckled his sword-belt, and, holding the hilt of the sword 
before him, kissed it reverently, with tears in his eyes, and then 
surrendered it to me. 

HIS FAREWELL TO HIS SHIP. 

"Of course, I declined to receive his sword, and, as the crew 
of the Iowa saw this they cheered like wild men. As I started 
to take Captain Eulate into the cabin to let the doctors ex- 
amine his wounds the magazine on board the Vizcaya exploded 
with a tremendous burst of flame. Captain Eulate, extending 
his hands, said: 'Adios, Vizcaya. There goes my beautiful 
ship, Captain,' and so we passed on to the cabin, where the 
doctors dressed his three wounds. In the meantime thirty 
officers of the Vizcaya had been picked up, besides 272 of her 
crew. Our wardroom and steerage officers gave up their 
staterooms and furnished food, clothing and tobacco to those 
named officers from the Vizcaya. The paymaster issued uni- 
forms to the naked sailors, and each was given all the corned 
beef, coffee and hardtack he could eat. The war had assumed 
another aspect. 

"As I knew the crews of the first two ships wrecked had not 
been visited by any of our vessels, I ran down to them. I 
found the Gloucester, with Admiral Cervera and a number of 
his officers aboard, and also a large number of wounded, some 
in a frightfully mangled condition. Many prisoners had been 
killed on shore by the fire of the Cubans. The Harvard came 
off, and I requested Captain Cotton to go in and take off the 
crews of the Infanta Maria Teresa and the Almirante Oquendo, 
and by midnight the Harvard had 976 prisoners aboard, a great 
number of them wounded. 

NO PARALLEL TO CERVERA's COURAGE. 

"For courage and dash there is no parallel in history to this 
action of the Spanish admiral. He came, as he knew, to abso- 



186 \A\ I/, li [ I I 1. 1. \ I M VTIAGO. 

lute destruction. There was one single hope — that was that 
the Cristobal Colon would steam faster than the Brooklyn. 
The spectacle of the two torpedo-boat destroyers, paper-shells 
at best, deliberately steaming out in broad daylight in the face 
of the tire of a battleship, can only be described in one way — 
it was Spanish and it was ordered by Blanco. The same must 
be said of the entire movement. 

"In contrast to this Spanish fashion was the cool, deliberate 
Yankee work. The American squadron was without senti- 
ment apparently. The ships went at their Spanish opponents 
and literally tore them to pieces. But the moment the Spanish 
Hag came down it must have been evident that the sentiment 
was among the Americans, not among the Spaniards. 

EVERY INCH AN ADMIRAL. 

"I took Admiral Cervera aboard the Iowa from the Glou- 
cester, which had rescued him from the dead, and received 
him with a full admiral's guard. The crew of the Iowa crowded 
aft over the turrets, hall-naked and black with powder, as 
Cervera stepped over the side bare-headed. Over his under- 
shirt he wore a thick suit of flannel, borrowed from Lieuten- 
ant-Commander Wainwright of the Gloucester. The crew 
cheered vociferously. Cervera is every inch an admiral, even 
if he had not any hat. He submitted to the fortunes of war 
with a grace that proclaimed him a thoroughbred." 

Captain Evans is intensely proud of his ship and her men. 
The Iowa fired thirty-one 12-inch, forty-eight eight-inch, 270 
four-inch, 1060 six-pound and 120 one-pound shots. 

FEARFUL HAVOC ON THE VIZCAYA. 

The officers of the Vizcaya said they simply could not hold 
their crews at the guns on account of the rapid fire poured upon 
them. The decks were flooded with water from the fire hose, 
and blood from the wounded made this a dark red. Fragments 
of bodies floated in this along the gun deck. Every instant the 
crack of exploding shells told of new havoc. One of the 12- 



NAVAL BATTLE AT SANTIAGO. 187 

inch shells from the Iowa exploded a torpedo in the Vizcaya's 
bow, blowing twenty-one men against the deck above and 
dropping them dead and mangled into the fire which at once 
started below. 

The torpedo-boat Ericsson was sent by the flagship to the 
help of the Iowa in the rescue of the Vizcaya's crew. Her men 
saw a terrible sight. The flames leaped out from the huge 
shot-holes in the Vizcaya's sides, licked up the decks, sizzling 
the flesh of the wounded, who were lying there shrieking for 
help. Between the frequent explosions there came awful cries 
and groans from the men pinned in below. This carnage was 
chieflly due to the rapidity of the American's fire. Corporal 
Smith, of the Iowa, fired 135 aimed shots in fifty minutes from 
a four-inch gun. Two shells struck within ten feet of Smith 
and started a small fire, but the corporal went on pumping 
shots into the enemy, only stopping to say, "They've got it in 
for this gun, sir." 

MAGNIFICENT COURAGE OF OUR GUNNERS. 

From two six-pounders 440 shots were fired in fifty minutes 
Up in the tops the marines banged away with one-pounders, 
too excited to step back to duck as the shells whistled over 
them. One gunner of a secondary battery under a 12-inch 
gun was blinded by smoke and saltpeter from the turret and 
his crew were driven off, but sticking a wet handkerchief over 
his face, with holes cut for his eyes, he stuck to his guns. 
Finally, as the six-pounders were so close to the eight-inch 
turret as to make it impossible to stay there with safety, the 
men were ordered away before the big gun was fired, but they 
refused to leave. When the eight-inch gun was fired the con- 
cussion blew two men of the smaller gun-crew ten feet from 
their guns and threw them to the deck as deaf as posts. Back 
they went again, however, and were again blown away, and 
finally had to be dragged away from their stations. Such 
bravery and such dogged determination under the heavy fire 
were of frequent occurrence on all the ships engaged. 



188 HOBSOX. THE HHKO. 



CHAPTER VI. 
HOBSON, THE HERO. 

A NATIVE OF ALABAMA. LEADER OF HIS CLASS AT THE NAVAL 
ACADEMY AND STUDIED MICH ABROAD — SINKING OF 1HK 
MERRIMAC. 

Richmond Pearson Hobson was twenty-seven years old on 
August 17 last, having been born at Greensboro, Hale county, 
Alabama, in 1870. After a competitive examination in May, 
1885, he was appointed to the Naval Academy by Congress- 
man Herbert, afterward Secretary of the Navy. Though the 
youngest man in his class, he stood first at graduation in 1889. 

His picture shows him to be a young man with a strong 
face, a broad, square chin, especially indicating his character- 
istic of courage. It is said that his disregard for the rules and 
regulations of the service is something phenomenal. He never 
could be bound down by the red tape of official routine. If, 
for instance, he desired to address the Secretary of the Navy, 
he would do so directly, instead of having his communications 
forwarded through the proper channels. 

Upon leaving the Academy Hobson was appointed a mid- 
shipman on the Chicago, then commanded by Admiral Walker, 
just before the warship started on a European cruise. After 
returning home the government selected him as one of six to 
go abroad for a special course in naval architecture. 

This detail is considered one of the highest honors that can 
be conferred upon an officer in the navy. It is a recognition 
of his superior ability and fitness for entering the most ad 
vanced technical corps. For years the British government 
has permitted two representatives from each nation with which 
she is on friendly terms to attend a specially high course of 
instruction at the Royal Naval College at Woolwich. Hobson 
was here for some time, and spent one year at the National 



HOBSOX, THE HERO. 189 

School of Mines, at Paris, and two years at the School of 
Maritime Science, in Paris. The summer vacations were spent 
in French shipyards. He received diplomas from the French 
school for distinction in naval construction and design, both 
of hulls and of engines. 

When he returned to this country, in 1894, he was ordered to 
duty in the Navy Department under Secretary Herbert, where 
his services were highly appreciated and commended by the 
officials of the department, and he was made assistant naval 
constructor. From there he was sent to the Brooklyn navy 
yard, where he remained for a year, and was then sent to 
Newport News to inspect the Kearsarge and Kentucky sev- 
eral months after their construction was begun. 

Through his efforts last year a post-graduate course of 
instruction in naval construction was inaugurated at Annap- 
olis, and Hobson was appointed instructor, and began his 
work with three pupils. In the latter part of last March Hob- 
son applied to Chief Naval Constructor Hichborn to be 
allowed to go on board a warship with his pupils, that they 
might learn from actual experience and observation naval 
tactics. This permission was granted, and teacher and pro- 
teges joined Sampson's fleet at Key West and have since been 
with the Admiral. 

Hobson is of athletic build, quiet and unassuming in man- 
ner, and would not be picked out ordinarily as having the 
bravery his recent act has attested. From childhood he has 
always been an exemplary son. 

This young man has made a reputation as an author, his 
book on "Disappearing Guns," published about a year ago, 
having received extended credit from naval men, as did his 
more recent effort, "Notes on the Yacht Defender, and the 
Use of Aluminum in Marine Construction." 

During the China-Japan war he was selected as the Amer- 
ican naval observer, but his selection was revoked owing to 
the opposition of line officers to those in the construction ser- 
vice. His expert knowledge was recognized by the Mexican 
government, which designated him in 1896 to conduct trials 



190 HOBSON, THE HERO. 

and pass upon the Mexican dispatch vessel Donato Guerra, 
built at Philadelphia. 

Constructor Hobson is a great-nephew of Governor John 
Morehead, of North Carolina. His father was a well-known 
lawyer and Confederate veteran of that State. On the mater- 
nal line he is a grandson of Chief Justice Pearson, of North 
Carolina, and a nephew of Representative Pearson, of North 
Carolina. He is a great-grandson of Senator John Williams, 
of Tennessee. 

His descent from fighting stock is interestingly shown in this 
table : 

Great-Great-Grandfather — Major Joseph Williams, of the 
revolutionary army; fought with distinguished bravery at 
King's Mountain and Cowpens. 

Great-Grandfather — Col. John Williams; fought with An- 
drew Jackson at the battle of New Orleans; afterward United 
States Senator from Tennessee. 

Grandfather — Richmond M. Pearson, for forty years chief 
justice of North Carolina. 

Father — James M. Hobson, who entered the Confederate 
service in 1861, and fought gallantly throughout the war. 

Son — Richmond Pearson Hobson, conducted the Merrimac 
into the harbor of Santiago and deliberately sunk her under 
the enemy's guns, 



192 HOBSOX's OWN STORY. 

CHAPTER VII. 

HOBSON'S OWN STORY. 

MAKES A TRIUMPHAL JOURNEY. 

Equalled only by the demonstration of joy at Cervera's 
defeat was the magnificent welcome extended by the American 
forces to Lieutenant Richmond Pearson Hobson and his men. 
No band of heroes could have been more touched by the 
enthusiasm of their comrades than were the men of the Merri- 
mac's crew. 

Bands played from countless places, the stars and stripes 
Muttered in the breeze and men cheered themselves hoarse. 
Whistles on half a dozen war vessels notified Hobson's men 
that further honors were awaiting them on the water, even 
while they were receiving the plaudits of the forces on land. 

Enthusiasm born of joy over the safety of the Merrimac's 
men and pride in what they did pervaded the American forces 
on land and sea. The enthusiasm was given free vent, and 
there resulted a patriotic scene to witness which was in some 
respects wortli all the hardships and exposures it had cost 
those present. 

News came by the military telegraph line a short time 
before 4 o'clock that Hobson and his men had been 
transferred to the Americans, and that they were entering 
General Wheeler's camp. Presently bands were playing. Offi- 
cers and men were shouting for joy. Flags were flying, men 
were throwing their hats high in the air, and army regulations 
were being cast to the winds. Officers made no attempt to 
restrain their men. Such an attempt would have been useless. 

WHEN JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME. 

When Hobson appeared within the lines at 4 o'clock the 
band played "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." The 
enthusiasm of our men knew no bounds. 



HOBSON'S OWN STORY. 193 

The advance of the heroes through the lines from Santiago 
to Siboney was a continuous triumphal march, in which the 
cheering thousands vied in their efforts to do greatest honor 
to the men just released from prison. 

Hobson rode a horse, while George Charette, Oscar Deig- 
nan, John Kelly, Randolph Clausen, Daniel Montague, J. E. 
Murphy and George F. Phillips, the other members of the 
Merrimac's crew, walked behind. All were well dressed, hav 
ing been provided with new uniforms. 

When Hobson and his men arrived at Siboney they found 
the flagship New York lying a short distance out, waiting to 
take them on board. A boat from the flagship went to the 
shore, and the dispatch boats in the vicinity made another 
demonstration as the Merrimac's crew were being transferred 
to the New York. Whistles blew and men cheered. 

The whole ship's company fairly went wild when Hobson 
went aboard. They recalled the early morning scene of the 
day the Merrimac was sunk, when Hobson, fearless and full 
of determination, had gone down the ladder to take charge 
of the Merrimac on her final cruise. None of the men on the 
New York had expected to see him again. 

SAMPSON EMBRACED HIM. 

When Hobson reached the deck of the flagship one of the 
first to greet him was Admiral Sampson. Their meeting was 
affecting. The American admiral, who at once had been 
struck by the boldness of Hobson's plan when the lieutenant 
first proposed to sink the Merrimac, showed a father's interest 
in the returning hero. He embraced Hobson, giving him a 
welcome the sincerity and pleasure of which could not be 
mistaken. Hardly less delighted over Hobson's safe return 
were Captain Chadwick and his officers. 

WHY THE CHANNEL WASN'T BLOCKED. 

"We have been thirty-three days in a Spanish prison," said 
Mr. Hobson, "and the more I think about it the more marvel- 
ous it seems that we are alive. 



194 HOBSON'S OWN STORY. 

"It was about 3 o'clock in the morning when the Merrimac 
entered the narrow channel and steamed in under the guns of 
Morro Castle. The stillness of death prevailed. It was so 
dark that we could scarcely see the headland. We had planned 
to drop our starboard anchor at a certain point to the right 01 
the channel, reverse our engines and then swing the Merri- 
mac around, sinking her directly across the channel. 

"This plan was adhered to, but circumstances rendered its 
execution impossible. When the Merrimac poked her nose 
into the channel our troubles began. The deadly silence wa^ 
broken by the wash of a small boat approaching us from tin- 
shore. I made her out to be a picket boat. 

"She ran close up under the stern of the Merrimac and fired 
several shots from what seemed to be three-pounder guns. 
The Merrimac's rudder was carried away by this fire. That is 
why the collier was not sunk across the channel. 

"We did not discover the loss of the rudder until Murphy 
cast anchor. We then found that the Merrimac would not 
answer to the helm, and were compelled to make the best of 
the situation. 

BRAVED MINES AND TORPEDOES. 

"The run up the channel was exciting. The picket boat had 
given the alarm, and in a moment the guns of the Vizcaya. the 
Almirante Oquendo and of the shore batteries were turned 
upon us. Submarine mines and torpedoes also were exploded 
all about us, adding to the excitement. The mines did no 
damage, although we could hear rumbling and could feel the 
ship tremble. 

"We were running without lights, and only the darkness 
saved us from utter destruction. 

"When the ship was in the desired position, and we found 
that the rudder was gone. I called the men on deck. While 
they were launching the raft I touched off the explosives. 

"At the same moment two torpedoes fired from the Reina 
Mercedes struck the Merrimac amidships. 

"I cannot say whether our own explosives or the Spanish 
torpedoes did the work, but the Merrimac was lifted out of 



HOB SOX'S OWN STORY. 195 

the water and almost lent asunder. As she settled down we 
scrambled overboard and cut away the raft. 

"A great cheer went up from the forts and warships as the 
collier foundered, the Spaniards thinking that the Merrimac 
was an American warship. 



A THRILLING ESCAPE. 

"We attempted to get out of the harbor in the raft, but a 
strong tide was running, and daylight found us still strug- 
gling in the water. Then for the first time the Spaniards saw 
us, and a boat from the Reina Mercedes picked us up. It then 
was shortly after 5 o'clock in the morning, and we had been 
in the water more than an hour. 

"We were taken aboard the Reina Mercedes and later were 
sent to Morro Castle. In Morro we were confined in cells in 
the inner side of the fortress, and were there the first day the 
fleet bombarded Morro. I could only hear the whistling of 
shells and the noise they made when they struck, but I judged 
from the conversation of the guards that the shells did con- 
siderable damage. 

"After this bombardment Mr. Ramsden, the British consul, 
protested, and we were removed to the hospital. There I was 
separated from the other men in our crew and could see them 
only by special permission. Montague and Kelly fell ill, suf- 
fering from malaria, and I was permitted to visit them twice 
Mr. Ramsden was very kind to us, and demanded that Mon- 
tague and Kelly be removed to better quarters in the hospital. 
This was done." 

GRATEFUL TO CERVKRA. 

"In the city we were treated with the same consideration 
by the naval officers and the army officers with the excep 
tion of General Linares which we got on the day of our 
capture. I believe that we owe to Admiral Cervera out- 
exchange, and a great deal more in the way of good treat- 
ment that we would not otherwise have received. General 
Linares had no good blood for us, nor did the soldiers and 



196 HOBSOXS OWN STORT. 

marines, who would have shot us on sight the night that we 
went into the harbor." 

MERRIMAC'S BRAVE CREW. 

The Navy Department records show the following facts con- 
cerning the seven brave men who were with Lieutenant Hob- 
son on the Merritnac: 

Daniel Montague, first-class machinist of the cruiser New 
York; born in Ireland and twenty-nine years old; last enlist- 
ment in December, 1896; next of kin. Kate Golden, sister, 84 
Horatio street. New York. 

George Charette, first-class gunner's mate of the New York; 
born in Lowell. Mass.. twenty-nine years of age; last enlist 
ment May 20, 1898: has been in the service since 1884; his 
next of kin is Alexander Charette, his father. Lowell, Mass. 

Osborn Deignan, coxswain of the Merritnac; born in Stuart. 
Iowa, twenty-one years old; last enlistment April 22, 1898: 
next of kin, Julia Deignan. mother. Stuart. Iowa. 

George F. Phillips, machinist of the Merrimac; born in 
Boston, thirty-four years old; last enlistment March 30, 1898; 
next of kin. Andrew Phillips. Cambridgeport, Mass. 

Francis Kelly, water-tender of the Merrimac; born in Bos- 
ton, twenty-eight years old; enlisted at Norfolk April 21 last; 
next of kin, Francis Kelly, Boston. 

Randolph Clausen, coxswain of the New York; born in 
Boston and twenty-eight years old; last enlistment February 
25. 1897: next of kin. Teresa Clausen, wife, 127 Cherry street, 
New York. 

J. C. Murphy, a coxswain of the Iowa. 



HOW MAXILA FELL. 197 



CHAPTER VIII. 
HOW MANILA FELL. 

AN EYE-WITNESS TELLS THE STORY OF THE SHORT, DECISIVE 
BATTLE. 

Manila surrendered, after a weak defense, Saturday, August 
13. The American flag now flies over the capital of the Philip- 
pines, and this was accomplished without great loss of life. I 
saw the whole fight and have returned to tell the story. 

Our loss was eight soldiers killed and forty wounded. No 
one on the American fleet was injured. The Spanish loss is 
estimated at from 120 to 600 killed and wounded. 

The Americans captured many prisoners — 7000 being Span- 
ish regulars — 20,000 Mauser rifles, 3000 Remingtons, eighteen 
modern cannon and many cannon of obsolete pattern. 

Manila newspapers on August 5 published the news that 
Captain-General Augusti had been superseded by Segundo 
Cabo Don Fermin Jaudenes Alarez. On August 7 Admiral 
Dewey and General Merritt, acting jointly, notified General 
Jaudenes that they might attack the city within forty-eight 
hours after the receipt of their note to him, and gave him an 
opportunity to remove all non-combatants. The note sent to 
the Spanish General was as follows: 

AN EXCHANGE OF NOTES. 

Sir — We have the honor to notify your Excellency that ope- 
rations of the land and naval forces of the United States 
against the defenses of Manila may begin at any time after the 
expiration of forty-eight hours from the receipt by you of this 
communication, or sooner if made necessary by attack on your 



198 HOW MANILA FELL. 

part. This notice is given yon to afford you an opportunity 
to remove all non-combatants from the city. 
Yours, respectfully. 

Wesley Mkrritt, 
Major-General U. S. A., Commanding. 

George Dewey, 
Rear-Admiral U. S. N., Commanding. 
To this letter General Jaudenes replied as follows: 
Gentlemen — I have the honor to inform your Excellencies 
that at half-past 12 today 1 received the notice with which you 
favored me, to the effect that after forty-eight hours have 
elapsed you maj begin operations against this fortified city. 
or at an earlier hour if the forces under your command are 
attacked by mine. As your notice was sent for the purpose of 
providing safety for non-combatants. I give thanks to your 
Excellencies for the humane sentiments you show and state 
that, finding myself surrounded by insurrectionary forces. 1 
am without a place of refuge for the increased number of 
wounded and the sick women and children now lodged within 
these walls. 

Respectfully, and kissing the hands of your Excellencies, 

Fermin Jaudenes. 
Foreign warships with refugees moved out of the harbor on 
the morning of August g. A small party of foreigners, chiefly 
British, remained in the suburbs of the city. Action was 
delayed until August 13 to allow the American troops to 
extend their front. Frequent visits by the Belgian consul 
meantime to General Alerritt and Admiral Dewey led to 
rumors that terms of surrender were being arranged. 

DEWEY LED THE FIGHTING LINE. 

The American fleet began to move in at 9 o'clock Saturday 
morning. Dewey on the Olympia led the fighting line, as of 
old. Above the Olympia and from the ships following her 
flew the American flag. 

The Olympia opened with her 8-inch guns at 9.35 o'clock. 



200 HOW MAM LA FELL. 

the first four shells being directed against Malate i'ort, called 
San Antonio de Abad. All of these first shells fell short. A 
rain squall made it difficult to get the range properly and to 
observe the result of the shots. 

The Raleigh, Petrel and Callao also opened on the forts, 
the Boston, Baltimore, Charleston and Monterey standing in 
as supports. Most of the tiring was done at a range of from 
3000 to 4000 yards. 

The practice was excellent as soon as the range was deter- 
mined. Most of the 5-inch shells fell in a battery protected by 
earthworks. Sixteen 8-inch and sixty-nine 5-inch shells were 
fired by the Olympia. and the Raleigh and Petrel each drove 
in about seventy-five. It was a pretty sight to see the Callao. 
Lieutenant Tappen commanding, and the launch Barcelo 
riding in the heavy surf, close in shore, pouring their fire on 
the enemy's riflemen. There was a rifle fire in reply, and the 
Callao was struck. She was not damaged. My launch fol- 
lowed close behind through the surf. 

The big monitor Monterey was not called upon to try her 
guns during the bombardment, but undoubtedly her presence 
and the boldness with which she was navigated within easy 
range of the city had considerable influence on the Spanish in 
their decision to capitulate. 



TROOPS MOVE FORWARD GALLANTLY. 

A general signal to the ships to cease firing was hoisted at 
thirty-two minutes past 10. The American infantry was seen 
a few minutes later moving forward upon the Spanish 
entrenchments. The advance was made under cover of a 
heavy fire from the Utah battery. 

With colors flying and bands playing" the troops moved 
swiftly along the beach. There was a creek to be forded. 
They plunged into it and were soon across. Once over they 
deployed in skirmishing order along Malate, keeping up a 
heavy rifle fire and finally halting at Runeta. 

As far as T could see from my launch the resistance made by 
the Spanish troops was stubborn in the extreme. 



HOW MANILA FELL. 1201 

General Anderson directed the operations on land and Gen- 
eral Greene, with the left wing, swept along upon the trenches 
before Malate. General McArthur led the right wing, with 
the Astor battery, which took up a position on the right oi 
the Pasig river, and did gallant work. One instance of this 
was when a Spanish blockhouse was carried by men using only 
their pistols. The only rapid-fire gun on the Spanish line was 
silenced by this gallant advance. Three men of the Astor 
battery were killed. 

VOLUNTEERS CHARGED BRAVELY. 

The hardest fighting of the day was done at a place on the 
right wing, where the guns of the fleet under "Fighting" 
Dewey could give no assistance. After the fleet had raked 
the position at Malate the Colorado troops, supported by the 
Eighteenth regulars and the Utah battery, swept it with the 
deadliest of fires. The Spaniards fell before the charging Col- 
orado men, who followed them closely, giving them no rest 
until the position was ours and the American flag was raised 
by the Californians, who had been charging behind the Colo- 
rado men. 

The Californians, who were subjected to a galling fire from 
Spanish sharpshooters in houses on the right, moved past the 
Colorado men into the suburb of Ermita, where Company L 
was leading, and engaged in a hot fight along the Calle Real, 
the Spaniards having erected street barricades there. Once 
Calle Real was cleared, the attack was virtually over. 

RAISING THE WHITE FLAG. 

About noon a white flag was hoisted over the city walls. 
The Californians advanced in double time across the Luneta 
as General Greene and his staff arrived to receive the sur- 
render. 

By some error, while the American troops were standing at 
rest, Spaniards in the walled city fired, fatally wounding two 
of the Californians. 



202 HOW MANILA FULL. 

Flag Lieutenant Brumby went ashore in a launch, accom- 
panied by Inspector-General Whittier, to interview General 
Jaudenes on the terms of capitulation. General Merritt was 
also present to discuss settling the terms. 

General Jaudenes was found after considerable difficulty. 
He was finally discovered in the security of a church that was 
filled with women and children. Lieutenant Brumby was 
forced to speak sharply and peremptorily to several officers 
before he could find the Governor-General. 

SPANIARDS WEPT AT CHANGE OF FLAG. 

Lieutenant Brumby, after the terms of capitulation had been 
signed, hurried off to lower the Spanish flag. He was accom- 
panied by two signal officers from the Olympia. This little 
party found its way after considerable difficulty into Fort San- 
tiago, in the northern part of the walled city. There a large 
Spanish flag was flying. Grouped about it were many Spanish 
officers. 

Brumby's presence in the victor's uniform attracted a crowd 
from the streets. They hissed as he approached to haul down 
the flag. Then the stars and stripes rose in place of the other. 
Many of those present wept bitterly as the flag of the victori- 
ous stranger rose into place above the fort. 

Fearing that the crowd might lower "old glory," Lieutenant 
Brumby asked an American infantry officer to move up 
a detachment to guard it. Fortunately the officer met a com- 
pany coming up with a band. The infantrymen presented arms 
and the band played "The Star Spangled Banner," which lent 
eclat to the ceremony. 

The conduct of the Spaniards was disgraceful after the capit- 
ulation. The gunboat Cebu was brought down the river, with 
the Spanish flag flying, and was set on fire at the mouth of the 
Pasig. A party of Americans boarded her and hoisted the 
stars and stripes. They tried fruitlessly to save three launches 
and several boats which were destroyed. 



HOW MANILA FELL. 2l« 

A GLANCE ABOUT THE CITY. 

Landing soon after General Merritt, I traversed the walled 
city. I found both the residents and the soldiers remarkably 
well, considering the fact that they had been reported starving. 
Many were well pleased that the capitulation had been agreed 
upon, as a bombardment of the city proper would have been 
attended by severe loss of life among non-combatants. 

The American troops quickly occupied the city on both sides 
of the Pasig, sleeping in the streets throughout the night of 
August 13, which was a wet one and made the strange condi- 
tions doubly disagreeable. Yet the conduct of the troops was 
beyond praise. 



204 XTORY OF 8PAI2\ WD CUBA. 



CHAPTER IX. 
SENATOR SHERMAN ON CUBA.* 

I know that the people of Spain are a sensitive, a 
proud, a gallant people, and will not submit to what 
they consider to be an injustice without resentment 
and resistance. At the same time, my convictions 
are strong, made stronger every day, that the condition 
of affairs in Cuba is such that the intervention of the 
United States must sooner or later be given to put an 
end to crimes that are almost beyond description. 

After the elaborate statements made by my honor- 
able friend the Senator from Alabama, Mr. Morgan, 
in which he has exhausted all the history of the ques- 
tion, I do not think it is necessary for me to go into 
many details. Nearly all the arguments and the facts 
upon which I base my opinion T draw from two docu- 
ments. One is written by an American, who does not 
give his name, but he is evidently interested in com- 
mercial matters in Cuba, and I judge from the tone of 
the paper that he is also interested in commercial mat- 
ters in this country. But as he does not give his 
name, I do not know to whom to ascribe it. It is a 



*Prom the speech of Senator Sherman in the United States Senate, which 
he eent for this book, with some changes. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 205 

very ably-written article upon the side of Spain, and 
very strongly against the people of Cuba who are now 
engaged in war. 

The other document to which I refer is one which I 
believe has not been generally read by members of the 
Senate. It is a document that was printed by order 
of the Committee on Foreign Relations, signed by T. 
Estrada Palma, who represents the belligerent Cubans 
and is the agent, so far as they can appoint an agent, 
for the revolutionary government of Cuba. This doc- 
ument, addressed to Mr. Olney, the Secretary of State, 
and furnished by him to the committee, gives nearly 
all that is necessary to know about the growth of the 
revolution in Cuba, the organization of the civil gov- 
ernment there, the formation of armies, and all the 
principal incidents of the combat that is now waging. 
In all its parts it seems to be fairly and frankly written 
without exaggeration, and perhaps I may read two or 
three paragraphs from the beginning of it to show the 
tone of this communication. 

In speaking of the causes of the revolution, he says: 
"These causes are substantially the same as those 
of the former revolution, lasting from 1868 to 1878 and 
terminating only on the representation of the Spanish 
government that Cuba would be granted such reforms 
as would remove the grounds of complaint on the 
part of the Cuban people. Unfortunately, the hopes 
thus held out have never been realized. The repre- 



206 STORY OF SPAIN AXD CUBA. 

sentation which was to be given the Cubans has proved 
to be absolutely without character; taxes have been 
levied anew on everything conceivable; the om^es in 
the island have increased, but the officers are all Spar 
iards ; the native Cubans have been left with no publi< 
duties whatsoever to perform, except the payment c 
taxes to the government and blackmail to the officials, 
without privilege even to move from place to place in 
the island except on the permission of governmental 
authority. 

"Spain has framed laws so that the natives have sub- 
stantially been deprived of the right of suffrage. The 
taxes levied have been almost entirely devoted to sup- 
port the army and navy in Cuba, to pay interest on the 
debt that Spain has saddled on the island, and to pay 
the salaries of the vast number of Spanish office-hold- 
ers, devoting only $746,000 for internal improvements 
out of the $26,000,000 collected by tax." 

In another part of this document, it is shown that no 
schools are organized there, and practically, with the 
exception of Habana and perhaps one or two other 
places, there are no school facilities in that region. The 
whole amount of money appropriated in aid of school 
buildings erected recently was about $20,000. 

Mr. Palma says further: 

"No public schools are within reach of the masses 
for their education. All the principal industries of 
the island are hampered by excessive imposts. Her 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 209 

commerce with every country but Spain has been 
crippled in every possible manner, as can readily be 
seen by the frequent protests of shipowners and mer- 
chants. 

"The Cubans have no security of person or property. 
The judiciary are instruments of the military authori- 
ties. Trial by military tribunals can be ordered at any 
time at the will of the captain-general. There is, be- 
sides, no freedom of speech, press or religion. In point 
of fact, the causes of the revolution of 1775 in this 
country were not nearly as grave as those that have 
driven the Cuban people to the various insurrections 
which culminated in the present revolution. ,, 

It cannot be denied that this is a temperate state- 
ment of a most fearful condition of affairs in Cuba. 

The objection has been made, not in debate here, 
but in the public press, that the Cubans have no organ- 
ized government; that they have no local habitation 
and name; that they have no legislative powers; that 
there is nobody elected to make laws. That is abso- 
lutely untrue. Here in this little pamphlet are the pro- 
ceedings of the government of Cuba and of the people 
of Cuba in organizing the government. Here is a 
statement of the growth of the revolution, of the bat- 
tles and campaigns, and contemporaneous with these 
movements the preliminary organization of local self- 
government as constituted. 

Much to my surprise, because I took up the general 



L!10 8T0RY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

idea that those people, in the first instance, were merely 
a band of discontents, having no organization, witn 
whom we could not deal, it is shown by this official 
document, communicated to the Secretary of State, 
that they have gone through all the formulae of self- 
government as fully and completely as the people of 
the United States did at the beginning of the Revolu- 
tion. 

This little document shows the organization of the 
legislature, the military organization, the election of a 
President, M. Cisneros, a man of high character, of 
conceded ability, a man of property and standing, who 
also, I believe, took a prominent active part in the 
revolution of 1868 to 1878, besides being eminent in 
civil life. 

Here are rules for the regulation of the army. Here 
are stipulations made as to the treatment of prisoners, 
how they shall be dealt with, and it is a remarkable 
fact that in all the battles fought by these wandering 
"robbers and bandits." as they have been called, when- 
ever they captured a soldier of the Spanish army they 
released him and allowed him to return to his com- 
mand. This humane and generous treatment is far 
different from the universal custom of the Spanish 
troops when one of the rebels is taken. He is sent to 
prison in Africa by the Spanish troops or is treated 
harshly, and in some cases murdered. These are poor 
men: the army is composed of native Cubans and men 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 211 

some of whom have been freed from slavery, black 
people, but they have shown no signs of being guilty 
of the barbarous atrocity of which I shall have to speak 
hereafter, I am afraid injudiciously. 

Now, here is a circular of the general-in-chief, Gen- 
eral Gomez. The first article of that circular says: 

"All prisoners captured in action or by the troops 
of the republic will be immediately liberated and re- 
turned to their ranks, unless they volunteer to join the 
army of liberation. The abandoned wounded will be 
gathered and attended to with all care, and the un- 
buried dead interred. 

"Art. 2. All persons who shall be arrested charged 
with committing the misdemeanors in the circular of 
July i, by violating or disregarding the said order, will 
be summarily proceeded against." 

There are many articles in this circular of commands 
and all of them in accordance with the most humane 
system of warfare. 

This circular, which defines what is to be done with 
prisoners of war, is signed by Maximo Gomez, gen- 
eral-in-chief, and yet in many newspapers in our coun- 
try he has been denounced as a murderer, a cruel, bar- 
barous one, like the one I shall speak of after a while— 
the commander of the Spanish forces. 

There are more than 100,000 Spanish troops now 
in that little island. Even before General Weyler 
went there, there were that many, and yet those troops 



212 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

have not been able to put down the rebellion; they 
have not been able to check the movements of the 
Cuban army, though their number did not exceed 
thirty or forty thousand. It is a remarkable fact, too. 
that the Spanish troops and Spanish generals never 
trust with arms men of Cuban descent or Cuban birth. 
They are employed to take care of property; they are 
employed to look after plantations, to assist in driving 
off the rebels, as we may call them, from the planta- 
tions; but there is no case where the Spanish authori- 
ties have given to native Cubans arms and ammuni- 
tion, because they know very well that they would be 
very unreliable troops in war against their country- 
men. 

The whole movement of the military force in Cuba 
is Spanish in its character. They have more troops 
now in Cuba than England ever had in the American 
colonies during our American Revolution. The force 
that has been brought to bear has been unable to check 
the movement of these wandering brigands, as they 
are called, in their triumphal march from one end of 
the island to the other. 

Sometimes it is said that the local government has 
no habitation ; that it has no place which it can hold to 
pass laws. In this respect they are like our Revolu- 
tionary fathers, who assembled at Philadelphia, ad- 
journed to Baltimore, fled to Lancaster, and convened 
at Yorktown. The Cubans found a place in which 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 213 

they framed a constitution, which is liberal and full, 
and it is here printed. It is true, it is not of the gran- 
deur of, or in semblance to, the Constitution of the 
United States, but it is a sufficient constitution to gov- 
ern 1,600,000 people. 

Again, it is said that this is a government of negroes, 
and that that is an objection to their independence. It 
is true that about two-fifths of the people of Cuba are 
negroes or of negro descent. Of Spaniards there are 
only 9 per cent., and the native Cubans constitute the 
balance. Most of the negroes were emancipated at 
the close of the previous revolution in 1878. That was 
one of the terms and conditions of the settlement that! 
was then made. Those negroes are now free. They 
are useful and necessary laborers, but it is said that 
they compose a part of the army. It is shown by the 
official records produced by Mr. Palma, a representa- 
tive of that government, that of the entire force mus- 
tered by that government, one-fourth are either ne- 
groes or descendants of black men, and no more. 

In every respect in which I can look at this matter, 
it seems to me that this comparatively ignorant, com- 
paratively inoffensive population, composed of native 
Cubans, emancipated blacks, and of free mulattoes, 
have, by their victories over greater numbers, fairly 
acquired the position of belligerents. The 9 per cent, 
of the population who are Spaniards in all probability 
are on the side of the parent government, although, I 



214 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

am told, as is shown here, that in some eases Spaniards 
by birth have joined in the movement for liberty and 
independence. 

I will read an extract from a letter dated the 26th of 
February, 1896: 

"I have traveled considerably over the island of 
Cuba, and have been interested in the history of the 
island, of Cuban affairs, and the study of those people. 

"Not having had the pleasure of your personal ac- 
quaintance, it might be well for me to say to yon that 
I am a citizen of Washington, and that I am interested 
extensively in and was one of the organizers and found- 
ers of the National Capital Bank, on Capitol Hill; that 
myself and the president of this bank have traveled in 
company over the territory which has been the scene 
of the recent bloody conflict, and that since our travels 
over this country I have become very greatly enthused 
with what seems to me to be the prospect of those peo- 
ple governing and maintaining themselves if they 
should ever be so fortunate as to achieve their inde- 
pendence. 

"My observation of the Cuban prompts me to sa\ 
that, unlike the Spaniard, he is true to his friends, law 
abiding, and honest in character. In this respect. In 
differs from any of the Spanish continental citizens, 
and I don't believe there is a place on this hemisphere 
that 1 would rather be placed in, absolutely helpless 
and unable to take care of myself, depending wholly 



STORY OF SPAIN AXD CUBA. 217 

upon the honor, integrity and good faith of the people 
with whom I was surrounded, than to be placed in a 
community of Cubans. They are brave, and will meet 
death, disaster and despair with the greatest amount of 
fortitude, I believe, on the face of the earth. 

"Your allusions in your speech to the fact that in the 
last insurrection there were 13,000 Cubans killed on 
the battlefield ani 45,00c ot chem slaughtered as pris- 
oners of var seemec to astonish and open the eyes of 
some of your colleagues. I was sorry that you did 
not dwell upon a single comparison. Allow me to 
suggest it. 

"According to the best historical authority, there 
were 57,000 Cubans who bit the dust during that insur- 
rection." 

I have always understood that the Cubans were a 
quiet, a peaceable, but not a very enterprising people. 
They had no system of education by which they could 
improve their condition. They had no aid from Spain. 
Every dollar of taxation that was levied there went to 
the Spanish government. They had no political rights 
or privileges worthy of the name. 

The struggle of 1868- 1878 was brought to an end by 
the kind intervention of General Campos, a gentleman, 
no doubt, of the highest character, kind and generous, 
yet one of the best soldiers that Spain has furnished of 
late years. That fearful contest, which involved an 
expenditure by Spain of over $700,000,000, was con- 



218 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

tinued for ten years by those wandering outlaws, as 
they are called, holding in check all the power of Spain 
during those long years, and only giving up resistance 
when peace was made upon terms granted by General 
Campos. They were liberal terms; they were honor- 
able terms, such as the Cubans were willing to accept, 
and upon the adoption of which they were willing to 
lay down their arms. 

What were those terms? The Cubans demanded 
local autonomy — some kind of home rule; they de- 
manded that they should have control of their prop- 
erty, their surroundings, their schools, etc. That wa9 
promised to them. They demanded representation 
in the Cortes, and so they had three men sent to the 
Cortes, a body, I believe, of some 300 men, and, as a 
matter of course, they were lost there, and the Cortes 
paid no attention whatever to them. The Cubans had 
a so-called local government, composed, I believe, of 
about thirty persons, one-half nominated by Spain, the 
other half nominated by the people of Cuba, and then 
when the question of voting came up, the body of the 
natives were practically disfranchised. 

So Spain, although she entered into the plausible 
agreement to bring about peace with Cuba, yet practi- 
cally violated her own engagements. She failed to 
carry out the stipulations which she made to her own 
people, and the result was that within a few years after- 
wards the feeble Cubans, alarmed at the condition of 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 219 

affairs, their property taken and devoured by taxation 
rendered poor, reckless, without means of education 
except a few who were planters, again took up arms. 

But it is said that the Cubans took*a man from out- 
side of the island to command their army. So they 
did. They took a man named Gomez, who, according 
to all the evidence that I have and all the statements 
made in this very one-sided document, is a man of 
character, a man of standing, probably an idealist. He 
was born in San Domingo, but he has always resisted 
any kind of tyranny. He exposes his life now in en- 
deavoring to secure home rule for Cuba. He ought 
to be and will be considered a patriot in some future 
day. 

I wish to say a word in respect to the treatment by 
Spain of her colonies. I have no desire to say any- 
thing unkind about Spain. Spain, through Colum- 
bus, discovered America. Four centuries ago Spain 
was a nation of great power, controlling not only the 
peninsula of Spain, but a large portion of Europe 
through Charles V; but Spain has never developed 
any power to manage a colony. It has never in a sin- 
gle instance, in all her numerous colonies, embracing 
originally the larger part of South America and Mex- 
ico and the island of Cuba, conceived or acted upon a 
policy of kindness or justice to her conquered sub- 
jects. It has never been fair to the natives. On the 



220 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

contrary, Spain's rule was iron, its demands were im- 
placable, and refusal of obedience was death. 

It is impossible to read, without being shocked, the 
history of any country conquered by Spain in the days 
of its power, with all the atrocities and crimes com- 
mitted. The story of Pizarro and Cortez, as told by 
Prescott, is a record of Spanish courage and Spanish 
cruelty, of bloody massacres and harsh injustice to the 
races they conquered. Recall the scenes that hap- 
pened in the Netherlands under the Duke of Alva, a 
name that will be remembered and hated as among the 
most cruel of mankind. The Dutch in the Nether- 
lands struggled with the great power of the Spanish 
government, and saved their country in spite of cruelty 
and barbarous warfare. 

Spain had possession of nearly all South America. 
What has she done with it? She has lost it all. Not by 
foreign power, but by the men she has attempted to 
rule, by Mexico, Chile and all the countries of South 
America; and now her last vestige of power on the 
American continents hangs over 1,600,000 people of 
Cuba. 

If Cuba had not been in that insular position where 
her coasts could be dominated by any naval power, the 
people of Cuba would long ago have been free. But, 
unfortunately, a rebel within could not by any possi- 
bility have any control of the building of ships to de- 
fend his island from encroachment. The island was 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 221 

open to Spain, and it is a wonder to me how, under the 
circumstances in which they are placed, the people oi 
Cuba have made such advances. I may say that Cuba 
has been in almost constant war during this generation. 
I need not go into the details of the various outbreaks, 
but in the one from 1868 to 1878 she not only main- 
tained her power during all that period, but compelled 
Spain to a sacrifice that practically brought about her 
bankruptcy. 

Now, it seems to me that under those circumstances 
Spain could easily, readily, have conciliated those peo- 
ple who, after all, were more friendly to Spain than 
any other portion of the Spanish colonies. Why not 
concede to them autonomy, local rights? There are 
but two countries in America of any great importance 
which are now dominated by kingly power. One is 
Canada. But what is the history of Canada? Canada 
is now as free as the Republics of America. Her peo- 
ple can pass laws as they please, and they are never 
vetoed. Canada is practically an independent country. 
England has extended to its people a policy which she 
ought to have extended to her United Colonies of Am- 
erica in 1776. If the same policy which has been pur- 
sued latterly in Canada had been pursued with our fath- 
ers in the Revolution, British power would probably 
have been exercised over the American colonies for 
many years after 1776. We can thank George III and 
his Tory ministry for their unjust measures in our Rev- 



222 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

olution, because it compelled our people to assert their 
power of self-government and to establish a great re- 
public among the nations of the world. 

In Canada, Great Britain has been wise and liberal. 
It has done everything. The Canadians have a parlia- 
ment. They have every function and attribute of a 
government. They have provinces and separate com- 
munities, with full autonomy and power to levy taxes. 
They not only levy taxes upon their own property, but 
they levy taxes upon goods imported from England, 
as well as from any other country in the world. It is 
folly to say that Canada is a possession in the sense 
considered by Spain. England was wise enough to 
foresee that a liberal policy was necessary to hold dis- 
tant possessions ; but Spain never could learn this les- 
son, never could find out that a colony had inherent 
rights, never could govern its distant subjects with 
Spanish rule, except by the policy of violence and in- 
justice, of vengeance and barbarity. 

This very question that we are now debating, strange 
as it may seem, came up and was before the Senate in 
1870, two years after the rebellion that I have referred 
to occurred, and then it was that in the Senate of the 
United States I introduced a resolution, which read 
as follows: 

"Whereas the United States observe with deep in- 
terest the civil war now existing in Cuba, and sympa- 
thize with the people of all American nations or colo- 




~" 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 225 

nies in their efforts to secure independence of Euro- 
pean power: Therefore 

"Be it resolved, That the United States recognize 
the existence of a state of war between the Kingdom 
of Spain and the colony of Cuba, waged on the part of 
Cuba to establish its independence, and the United 
States will observe a strict neutrality between the bel- 
ligerent parties, as is their duty under the law of na- 
tions." 

That resolution was introduced by me at the date 
stated. The conditions under which it was introduced 
were rather peculiar. At that time, General Grant was 
understood to be very strongly in favor of taking de- 
termined measures to put an end to Spanish rule in 
Cuba. It was felt generally throughout the country, 
and especially in Washington, that the rebellion ought 
to end, and the general feeling was that General Grant 
would bring it to some head; that he would either per- 
suade Spain to sell Cuba or in some way bring about 
the independence of the Cubans. But Mr. Hamilton 
Fish, his Secretary of State, was no doubt largely con- 
trolled by the commercial interests of the city of New 
York and the State of New York. T do not complain 
of that. He was very much opposed to this policy, 
and resisted it to the utmost. 

Finally, General Grant yielded. General Grant did 
not often yield, and in many cases he did not yield 
where it was supposed he did. but he did yield his ideas 



226 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

upon that subject. The strongest possible statement 
of the objections to our interfering in Spain and to our 
recognition of their belligerency is stated in the mes- 
sage of General Grant in 1875, and I think everyone 
who is familiar with the writings of Mr. Fish will see 
that it was practically his work. 

Therefore it was that we did then as we are doing 
now — we let the thing run along. I did not call up 
the resolution for final action or for consideration, be- 
cause I knew that without the assent of the President 
it was perfectly idle for us to seek any measure for the 
relief of Cuba. So things passed along, until, finally, 
in 1878, in the beginning of the administration of Mr. 
Hayes, the matter was settled, and it was supposed that 
it had been settled upon liberal terms which would sup- 
ply to the people of Cuba an autonomy and protect 
them at least in their local interests. 

Senators may not be interested in the constitution 
of the Provisional Government, the action of the con- 
stituent assembly, but here it is. 1 will not read it. 
There is not a right enjoyed by the people of the 
United States that is not secured here. Their gov- 
ernment is a simple and plain republic, with but little 
form or ceremony. It is a substantial grant to all the 
people who live there, without distinction of race or 
color, of liberty and the right to manage their own af- 
fairs. Here is the law of marriage, and many other 
laws that have been passed there, regulations which 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 227 

had not been provided by the Spanish government. 
Here is the military organization. They divide their 
army into five corps, and place General Gomez at the 
head of it all. Two of them are commanded by the 
two Maceos, who are, I believe, mixed blood. The 
whole organization is here given. The President, 
Cisneros, is a man of the highest character, as is shown, 
I believe, even by the statement of the pamphlet by 
an "American" that I have referred to. 

Besides the mere ideal interest of the United States 
in protecting a feeble republic struggling for liberty, 
we have more material interests with Cuba than with 
any other country of this hemisphere. Our pur- 
chases and our dealings with Cuba are nearly equal 
to all that are bought from or sold to all other Ameri- 
can countries. The statistics upon that point are here 
given. Perhaps a mere reference to the value will 
show that we have not only ideal interests, but that we 
have real business interests in Cuba. 

We take from Cuba and Puerto Rico imports to the 
value of $82,715,120. We send to Cuba $26,668,000 
of exports. Our entire exports to all the \\ est India 
islands, other than Cuba, amount to only $19,000,000. 
as compared with $26,000,000 to Cuba. And so with 
Mexico. Although it is supposed that we are largely 
increasing our trade with Mexico, yet after all the en- 
tire imports from Mexico amount to $33,000,000, while 
the amount of imports from Cuba amount to $82,000.- 



228 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

ooo. The exports to Mexico amount to $19,000,000, 
while the exports to Cuba amount to $26,000,000, 
Taking all the countries of South America combined, 
the exports and imports representing the dealings with 
the United States are larger in Cuba than in all South 
America. 

This shows that by our proximity to these people. 
such as we have not with other portions of the Am- 
erican continent. <>ur trade with Cuba is greater than 
that with other American countries. If any nation 
outside of Spain is interested in Cuba is is the United 
States of America. We have already settled as a fixed 
fact, which none will dispute, that no other country in 
Europe can claim or acquire ownership in Cuba. That 
was guarded against by our ancestors forty and fifty 
years ago, so that now there is no country that could 
be appealed to so strongly for any assistance that may 
be given to those people fighting for their liberty as to 
the people of the United States of America. 

Mark it, I am not in favor of the annexation of Cuba 
to the United States. I do not desire to conquer the 
Cubans in any sense. I do not desire to have any in- 
fluence whatever upon their local autonomy. In my 
judgment, they ought to be attached to Mexico as a 
part of that country, because the Mexicans speak the 
same language, they have the same origin and the 
same antecedents, and are under many of the same cir- 
cumstances. Therefore T should be very glad if by 



STORY OF SPAIN AXD CUBA. 229 

any measure Cuba should be attached to Mexico; but 
as to Spain I do not believe that Cuba will ever be of 
any advantage to Spain hereafter. They already say 
that on account of the rebellion thus far proceeded 
with favorably all the interests of Spain are practically 
destroyed. Those people who are now fighting for 
their liberty, though I think it is perhaps against the 
laws of war, destroy sugar-cane and all the products 
of the earth, in order to prevent them from going to 
support the Spanish army, but we even did that in our 
civil war. We destroyed property when it was sup- 
posed it might be used for the good of the enemy. 
They have never violated in any case the rules or ar- 
ticles of war. 

Now we come to the saddest aspect of this question. 
Spain has evidently withdrawn Campos, who was a 
friendly, fair and open ruler, and who sought in even- 
way he could to bring about some agreement between 
the two countries, because they are now two separate 
countries. Campos was withdrawn, and there was put 
in his place a Spanish general of renown, who has been 
long in the army, is well known, and of late has been 
christened "the butcher." Events have happened 
within the last thirty days that have changed the whole 
of my feeling in regard to this matter. This man 
Weyler, if we can judge by what he has done, and if he 
is to be judged by what he threatens to do. is one of 
the worst men who could be sent there to pacify a peo- 



230 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

pie or to compel them to surrender. Hi& warfare is- 
massacre. He openly avows it. 

A book was published in Spanish which 1 am very 
sorry I could not get from the library, written by a 
Spaniard by the name of Enrique Donderio, who had 
come over from Spain with the Spanish troops to see 
the war of 1870, and who was so horror-stricken with the 
awful crimes that he saw committed that he fled to the 
United States, and there compiled his manuscript. 
Telling is this evidence, and it shows General Weyler, 
stripped of all the honorable aims of military authority. 
as a brute, pure and simple, his hands forever stained 
with the blood of defenseless men and women. This 
book I cannot read in the Spanish language, but it 
was translated by one of the great journals of the coun- 
try, the New York Journal, and as something more 
important to this country than anything that I could 
say, I ask the secretary to read from it some extracts 
which I have marked, which disclose the character and 
action of this General Weyler. 

The secretary read as follows: 

VILLAINOUS OUTRAGES. 

"It was not alone that he carried out the brutal or- 
ders of Valmeseda. Had he done only that the Cubans 
of today would fix the blame upon Valmeseda instead 
of upon him. But he went much further; he took it 



a 
o 
o 

►3 

O 

o 
!=g 

*3 
o 
a 
w 

JO 

o 

S 

z 

z 

H 

a 
d 

03 
► 

o 
►3 







STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 233 

upon himself to cause the outrage and murder of 
scores of women in the small towns and villages that 
lay in the district he was commanding. The details of 
these outrages are too horrible almost to relate, but 
they need to be told to show what manner of man this 
is who is now attempting to throttle Cuba. 

"His favorite amusement was entering into a vil- 
lage with a regiment of soldiers and "rounding up" all 
the women to be found in the dwellings. If there hap- 
pened to be any men left in the village at that time, 
they would be shot down without delay. The women 
huddled together in a frightened group ; he would form 
his troops in a hollow square, facing inward, and 
then, having three or four of the women — and even 
little girls of the tender ages of ten or eleven years — 
stripped absolutely naked, he would drive them into 
the square at the point of the bayonet, and make them 
dance until exhausted, the double file of sensual Span- 
iards gazing on in delight. 

"When one set had fallen panting to the ground, he 
would deliver them over to the soldiers for their grati- 
fication, and bring out others, until every woman in 
the village, stripped, had been forced to submit to 
these terrible indignities. Finally, the tortured creat- 
ures would be put out of their misery by being hacked 
literally to pieces with swift strokes of the sharp Cuban 
machetes. 

"This machete is a long, slightly curved Cuban knife, 



234 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

very sharp and heavy, used for cutting and not thrust- 
ing. In times of peace, it is employed for cutting 
sugar-cane, but in times of war it is one of the most 
deadly of implements. The Spanish troops invariably 
use the machete, adopting it soon after their arrival in 
Cuba. 

"Weyler's troops used to use this knife, by his or- 
ders, with great effectiveness. Another scheme of his, 
which he carried out frequently with great satisfaction 
to himself, was the holding of a ball in some large 
building in a town. He would send a great number 
of invitations around for this, including everybody 
that he had made up his mind to kill. Now, an invita- 
tion from General Weyler was not to be treated lightly. 
Nobody dared to refuse it, in fact. No man's life 
would have been worth the thinking about if he de- 
cided not to go. Some of these balls used to pass off 
very smoothly and without any deviation from the pro- 
gramme of a regular Cuban dance. 

"But this was not often. At some time during the 
evening — at every other ball at least — after liquor had 
been flowing freely and the men and women guests 
who did not dare to do anything else than drink were 
pretty well stupified, a sudden hush would fall over tin 
room, the music would stop, and a gang of Weyler's 
soldiers, with murderous machetes in their hands, 
would rush in, slashing right and left, and, keeping 
both doors and windows guarded, so that hardly a per- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 235 

son could escape. The women, of course, would be 
saved for orgies later on. On one occasion of this 
sort, it is recalled, the carnage was so fierce that not 
even the hired musicians escaped with their lives. 

WORSE THAN THE KURDS. 

"Here is another incident, taken down from the lips 
of a Cuban of position, who lives in New York city to- 
day: 

" 'You can refer to the country place named Levado, 
belonging to Maguilara, who was Vice-President of 
the then republic of Cuba. Weyler came to that coun- 
try place and found, sick in bed and almost dying, Eu- 
genio Odardoy Tomagno and his brother. They were 
almost dead of consumption and in a state of ulcera- 
tion. Weyler had them dragged out of their beds, 
dragged through the hallways and outdoors to a little 
wood. There they were cut to pieces with machetes 
— actually minced. 

" 'The wife of the manager of the estate, who was 
there with her little daughter, eight or nine years old, 
was taken out of the house, deprived of her clothing, 
and made to dance, together with her little daughter. 
Both were afterwards outraged and hacked to pieces.' 
"In Donderio's book, mentioned above, the writer 
(who, it must be remembered, was a Spaniard and not 
a Cuban, and who would certainly not have told false- 



236 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

hoods against his countrymen) gives these three thrill- 
ing little dramas of horror, taken from the reign of 
Weyler at this perior: 

" 'As we approached the ruined village of Boire, we 
saw coming toward us the guerrillas of a Spanish col- 
umn, who, in a reconnoitring expedition in the woods 
thereabout, had found a small colony of Cuban fami- 
lies whose male individuals they had all assassinated, 
and whose ears they were bringing, strung on their 
bayonets, so as to show the number they had killed 
and claim the reward, as if they had been wild beasts. 

" 'In one of the camps one could contemplate the 
troops looking with almost the satisfaction of tigers 
upon four women that they had captured. Three of 
them were from sixteen to twenty years of age, and the 
other was more advanced in years and was accom- 
panied by two small girls from seven to nine years old. 
whose mother she was. When the shades of night 
began to fall, the soldiers took an especial delight in 
telling these women what their fate would be, just for 
the satisfaction of seeing them weep and hearing them 
pray for mercy. 

" 'The lady to whom I have referred above belonged 
to the wealthy family of Los Penos. She thought to 
soften the hearts of the soldiers by presenting to them 
her two little daughters, who were besides rather 
sickly, and praying that they should not be condemned 
to an act which would, without doubt, cause their im- 



STORY OF SPAIN AM) CUBA. 237 

mediate death. But all her supplications were in vain. 
The soldiers were finally given authority to do with 
the women as they pleased. Next morning; they were 
all dead. 

" T once witnessed the arrival of a column at a small 
Cuban settlement with thirteen families. The women 
were separated from the men, and were then compelled 
to gather the wood with which their relatives were to 
be reduced to ashes, after being butchered. The wo- 
men w^ere, of course, according to the usual custom, 
ravished a little later. 

" 'We have witnessed ourselves, with our own eyes, 
what we have described.'' 

"These are excerpts picked out at random from 
Donderio's book, and the three stories are uncon- 
nected. They are translated literally from the origi- 
nal Spanish, and the peculiar idoms are kept. 

MORE OF HIS GRIMES. 

"Weyler, however, did not confine his barbarities to 
women. With men he was brutal, almost beyond the 
power of words to describe. A Cuban gentleman oi 
this city recalls the following instance: 

" 'In one of the jails there were more than twenty po- 
litical prisoners, almost all lawwers, physicians and 
representative men of the district. He went in one day 
with an enormous club and beat them unmercifully, 



238 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

and then and there ordered that next morning they be 
shot; and they were shot.' 

"An even more horrible story is told, as follows j 

" 'Weyler was coming out of a jail one day when he 
met a gentleman of wealth and position in the town, 
who complained to him that the troops had taken all 
his cattle. Weyler at once ordered him to be tied by 
the neck to the iron bars of the jail in such a way that 
strangulation should not be immediate but gradual. 
and he was left there. The next morning he was dead, 
and his eyeballs had dropped out of their sockets.' 

"Most incredible of all is this deed of 'The Butcher.' 
That it happened once is beyond question; how many 
more times it is impossible to say. This happened in 
a small village on the outskirts of his district. 'The 
Butcher,' with a goodly-sized force of troops, was trav- 
eling over the country, continuing in his reign of ter- 
ror, when he came by chance upon a little family he 
had somehow in a previous visit overlooked. There 
was a middle-aged father and mother, two daughters- 
and two sons. With a fiendish sort of delight, Weyler 
took them into captivity. He marched them along, 
closely guarded, until he came to the spot he wanted. 
Then, calling upon his men to halt, he made his plans 
with his usual wonderful rapidity of thought and 
scheme for an outrage that could hardly be excelled. 

"He bound the father and mother firmly to trees near 
*ach other, trees that were facing a little bit of green- 




CDBAN INSURGENTS FIGHTING BEHIND BARRELS. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 241 

sward. Then, having the daughters held tightly by 
the guards, he proceeded to order several of his sol- 
diers to hack the young boys to pieces with machetes. 
The screams of the victims and the wails of their agon- 
ized relatives would have stopped any other man short 
in his dreadful course. But Weyler only smiled. 

"The boys now lying dead, 'The Butcher' signaled 
to his soldiers to bring forward the girls. They were 
pretty, dainty senoritas, in the first flush and blush of 
womanhood, and Weyler's smile grew more sardonic 
as they were marched before him. Then and there, in 
full sight of the father and mother, he had his soldiers 
strip the youngest woman of every article of their 
clothing, and for half an hour force them to dance 
upon the green turf with all the troops looking on. 
With the agony of seeing their sons slain before their 
eyes and their daughters in such a humiliating position, 
the parents were nearly insane. 

"Yet Weyler was not through yet. 

"It sounds absolutely impossible to say that any 
man could be possessed of such cruelty, but facts are 
facts, and it is the sober truth, vouched for by several 
Cubans in this city, that immediately following the 
dancing, with the distracted father and mother still 
looking on, 'The Butcher' gave instructions to have 
the girls violated there before their eyes. 

"It proved the death of both of them, and left the 



242 STORY OF SPAl.S AND CUBA. 

father and mother — whose lives YYeyler spared — hope- 
lessly insane." 

This is the character of man who is put in charge of 
this rebellion by Spain. I do not know how others feel 
about it, but the character of this man, his barbarous 
atrocity, bis inhuman cruelty — I can use no stronger 
language — he is a demon, rather than a general. Spain 
has sent such a man as that, who did what it is said here 
that he did, in command of 100,000 troops, to ride 
roughshod over, to kill, to slaughter a feeble body of 
people. The other day my honorable friend from 
Massachusetts, Mr. Lodge, read (and I have no doubt 
every Senator bad the same feeling that 1 did) where 
this man made a speech after he 'had been appointed 
general, saying what he was going to do when he came 
to the island of Cuba and was placed in its chief com- 
mand, with full power and absolute control over 1,- 
600,000 people. This is what he said : 

"On arriving in Cuba I propose to exterminate tbe 
filibusters — " 

What does he mean by exterminating them? Is it 
the kind of conduct that is described in the paper al- 
ready read and recited by one of his associates? 

"On arriving in Cuba I propose to exterminate the 
filibusters first in the provinces of Habana, Pinar del 
Rio, Matanzas and Las Villas. Of course, it is to be 
understood that I refer to the large groups that invade 
them. Afterwards the small parties of bandits will re- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 243 

main, which I will slowly exterminate. At all events, 
great activity is needed in the present circumstances." 

We have seen that this actual tragedy has already 
commenced. I read in a morning paper — it is open to 
all — the account of about the first battle which has 
been fought there since the arrival of this general, and 
the murder of unoffending prisoners. I wish to say 
upon my own responsibility that if this line of conduct 
is pursued by Spain in Cuba, and the people of the 
United States are informed of its conditions as they are 
narrated daily in the public papers, there is no earthly 
power that will prevent the people of the United States 
from going over to that island, running all over its 
length and breadth, and driving out from the little 
island of Cuba these barbarous robbers and imitators 
of the worst men who ever lived in the world. 

Now, leaving the combatants to fight their battles, 
let me say a few words in regard to the general policy 
of the United States. Ever since the establishment of 
our own independence, after a long struggle, it was 
well understood, and announced by General Washing- 
ton, and by all the great men of the time, especially by 
Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison and Mr. Monroe, that 
the general policy of the United States was to secure 
to the people of all nations in America republican rule 
and self-government. One of the great disciples of 
this doctrine was Henry Clay; but, indeed, all the Am- 
erican statesmen of that time concurred in the opinion 



244 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

that every effort short of actual warfare, every aid, 
should be given to the South American and even the 
North American States in favor of their liberty and 
their separation from the parent government. 

I have already said that so far as Canada is con- 
cerned, its condition has been so favorable that the Ca- 
nadians do not desire even to form a kinship or to join 
our great country, nor would I with my present con- 
victions vote to admit Canada into the Union of States. 
I think that the plan of government of many States 
and one people has its limits, and beyond a certain ex- 
tent it is not wise to increase the number of States. 
Besides, I would be against admitting any State that 
was not in all its parts practically republican and free. 

In the framing of the resolution that is now before 
us, when the committee undertook to draft a resolu- 
tion expressing the desire of the United States, it was 
found to be a much more difficult task than was sus- 
pected. However, finally the committee agreed upon 
the resolution presented by the honorable Senator from 
Alabama,- Mr. Morgan, and it was agreed to subse- 
quently that the main proposition contained in the res- 
olutions offered by the Senator from Pennsylvania, 
Mr. Cameron, should be added as an addition to that 
resolution, so that, if it is offered by the Senator from 
Pennsylvania now, whatever sanction the committee 
can give to them will be given. I will read it, as it is 
very short: 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 245 

''Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representa- 
tives concurring), That, in the opinion of Congress a 
condition of public war exists between the govern- 
ment of Spain and the government proclaimed and for 
some time maintained by force of arms by the people 
of Cuba; and that the United States of America should 
maintain a strict neutrality between the contending 
powers, according to each all the rights of belligerents 
in the ports and territory of the United States." 

The amendment proposed by the Senator from 
Pennsylvania is as follows: 

"Resolved further, That the friendly offices of the 
United States should be offered by the President to 
the Spanish government for the recognition of the in- 
dependence of Cuba." 

The resolutions in the House of Representatives, as 
they were introduced by the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs in the House, are also excellent statements of 
the position of the American government. Personally 
1 would be very willing to vote for those resolutions, 
or either of them or any of them. There were many 
questions that were discussed by Senators upon the 
other side of the chamber as to what should be done 
by the President. Some thought that a joint resolu- 
tion ought to be sent to the President of the United 
States. There were objections made to that course. 
It was conceded on all hands in the committee that the 
final decision of this question of peace or war. or the 



246 STONY OF SPA IX \\l> CUBA. 

condition of belligerency, must rest with the President 
of the United States. That seemed to be the general 
opinion upon that point, but upon other questions 
there was a difference of opinion. 

But I believe that the passage of the resolution now- 
reported, together with the addition made by the Sen- 
ator from Pennsylvania, will define the policy of the 
United States. I think 1 can say with entire confi- 
dence' in in\ view as to the desire of the people of the 
I nited States, we do not want to hear any more about 
Cuba; we do not want Cuba: we do not desire it; we 
wish to trade with it; we are its best customer, but we 
do not intend that the laws of civilized society, that the 
usages among Christian nations, that the habits of a 
modern civilization shall be thwarted by Spain in her 
further government of Cuba. It is certain that the 
spirit of the age will demand that of Spain. Let me 
say, that not only the United States of America, but 
every country of America will do it. Probably for the 
first time an opportunity will be presented to draw the 
line upon questions that are American and European. 
The line might be drawn on Cuba if the United States 
should believe in the end that it is wise to assist these 
rebels, as they are called, in seeking self-government ; 
and if we do it we shall not do it alone. If Weylef 
carries out his projected plan, there is not a portion of 
the country in this hemisphere, in North or South Am- 
erica, from the northern to the southern ocean, but 



ST0R1 OF si' 1/ \ I \ D < MM. 249 

will join to contribute in putting an end to that vio- 
lence. It has lasted long enough. That people 
ought to be allowed, in their way, to form their own 
government, to be free as we arc. 

It may be that in time that country, containing but 
1,600,000 inhabitants now, will contain more than 10.- 
000,000 people ; it may be one of the great island powers 
of the world, not equal to Great Britain, not equal to 
Ireland, but still greater and stronger— man) times 
stronger — than it can ever be under the power 1 >f 
Spain. Every Christian man, every man who believes 
in the civilization of our age. ever) American in all our 
broad land who hates tyranny and oppression, whether 
it come from a government or a tyrant, is opposed to 
cruelty. We do not want an Armenia near our shores, 
and if one shall be established there it will be over- 
thrown. 

We will not shield ourselves behind the position 
taken by the British government in the case of Arme 
nia, that Armenia was so far away and beyond her 
power that Great Britain could not help those people 
when they were being murdered. That was no doubt 
a true position, and it was difficult under the circum 
stances for Great Britain to interfere. I do not say 
this as a matter of criticism. But Cuba lies right at our 
shore. A few hours will carry us across to Habana, 
the capital of that beautiful island, which is rich in pro- 
duction, which contains the besl sugar lands in the 



250 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

world, a country capable of holding 5,000,000 people 
and giving them active and prosperous employment — 
people of a gentle and kindly race, not disposed to war- 
fare, unless it be to resent intrusion and tyranny. 

Whatever may be the result of the adoption of this 
measure, 1 desire to take my share of responsibility in 
connection with it, and with a confidence in the judg- 
ment of the Almighty Ruler of the Universe, I believe 
it will be wise if we can assist, and all the other nations 
of American concur, in securing to the people of Cuba 
the same liberties we now enjoy. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 251 



CHAPTER X. 

A TRIP TO THE INTERIOR WITH GENERAL GRANT. 

In 1880, Mr. Byron Andrews, a newspaper corre- 
spondent, visited Cuba, in the capacity of press corre- 
spondent, with General Grant and his party. The let- 
ters which he then wrote he has recently published in 
a pamphlet, "Story of Cuba," and it will be of interest 
to many readers to see what he has to say in reference 
to the country and its people. 

Writing- from San Diego Los Banos, in the province 
of Pinar del Rio, under date of January 29, that year, 
the story runs as follows: 

Yesterday General Grant and party left Havana at 
9 o'clock in the morning for a visit to the interior. The 
first objective point was this place, San Diego Los 
Banos, as its name indicates, famous for its baths. The 
train was a special, and left three hours later than tht 
regular, which starts but once daily, and at 6 o'clock 
in the morning. The country along the line of the 
railway is like a garden. It used to be given over to 
coffee-growing almost entirely, orange and other trees 
being planted for shade simply. Now, tobacco and 
sugar pay better, and the coffee culture has been al- 



252 STORT (>/•' SPAIH IND CUBA, 

most entirely abandoned. There are intervals of un- 
cultivated lands, but for the most part the eye rest: 
upon nothing but one expanse of great plantations of 
sugar-cane. There are no fences, and the hundreds of 
domestic animals that graze everywhere arc all tied 
to small stakes. The cattle are fastened by a rop< 
passing through the cartilage of tin nose, but out of 
respect for the importance of the member in the case 
of the pig, he is tethered by the foot. 

THE PALMS. 

The ever-occurring palm tree lends beauty to the 
scene. They grow everywhere, in groups or rows, or 
sometimes in great forests. They rear their tall tops 
above the almond and fig and orange, and give a dignity 
to the woods. For fifty or even ioo feet their trunks 
stand straight and smooth like masts, and then the top 
spreads out like an umbrella, with its long drooping 
foliage. There are several varieties quite common, 
but the most frequent are the Creole, cocoa and date 
palm. The Creole variety is the most stately, with its 
large white trunk and great clusters of fruit. It is the 
most valuable tree of the country. At the termina- 
tion of the white, or main, portion of the trunk is a sec- 
tion of green, reaching up to where the leaves have 
their apparent base, for about six or eight feet. This 
is really a part of the foliage, being the spathe of the 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. lio3 

leaf, and each month a leaf falls, and with it the spathe, 
which encircles the tree in a thin sheet of natural, husk- 
like fibre. When spread out it is of an oblong shape, 
six to eight feet by three, and is used as a wrapper for 
the bales of tobacco. \\ hen it falls it leaves a ring- 
where its base is separated from the bark of the tree, 
and adds so much, about two or three inches usually, 
to the height of the trunk. In the interior, these wrap- 
pers are worth $3 a dozen. At the base of the spathe 
grow the clusters of the fruit, a kind of nut as large as 
the coffee-bean, which is the universal food of the hogs. 
Owing to these qualities, the planter is assessed at the 
rate of fifty cents each for every tree on his land. 

THE CANE. 

The date-palm is not much prized, simply because it 
is neglected, and but little of the fruit sent to the mar- 
ket. All the trees are in full foliage, although it is 
winter, except the Ceiba, perhaps the only one in the 
island that marks the succession of the seasons by 
dropping its leaves. The cane grows here forever. It 
is very common to see a field that has not been re- 
planted for thirty years. The stalks grow thick and 
rather small, and the ground is not cultivated or en- 
riched at all, but the exhausting process of cutting the 
crop once a year and allowing it to come up again is 
continued till the soil is worn out, and the stalk grows 



254 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

smaller and smaller, until finally it no longer pays to 
work it, and then it is plowed and turned to pasture. 
There are many orange groves, hut the banana and 
plantain are more extensively grown. There is much 
maize too, but the natives do not know anything about 
the pleasures of the corn-dodger. They make a kind 
of pancake they call a tortilla, but bread made from 
cornmeal is an unknown commodity ; in fact, so is any 
other bread, by the rustics, the wheat flour used by the 
upper classes being brought from the United States. 
The sweet potato and another root called the yucca, 
found everywhere, are the staple substitutes. 

The soil of the country we passed through does not 
impress the Northern visitor favorably at first sight, 
but it is better than it looks. The color is a deep red. 
tinted by the sesquioxide of iron, and is very fertile, de- 
spite its hue. 

THE VOLANTE. 

The travelers arrived at Paso Real, about ioo miles 
from Havana, at 2 o'clock, having made a short stop 
at San Cristobal to see the effects of a recent earth- 
quake. After a lunch, the journey to the baths was 
resumed in volantes. 

This voiante must be seen to be appreciated. It is 
like a balloon on wheels, an Irish jaunting car in its 
proclivity to upset, and a phaeton in its general con- 







BDLL-FIOHT SCENE 



BT0R1 OF SPAIN AND CUBA. -27,7 

venience and the ease with which the traveler rides in 
its capacious interior, as soon as he has gained confi- 
dence in it. Imagine a vehicle with two wheels as 
large as those of an American sulky, set wide apart. 
To the axletree are attached thills twice as long as 
necessary, in which is balanced the carriage-bed at one 
end and the animal is hitched to the other. ' Then there 
are two other mules or horses hitched by ropes, ex- 
tending back and made fast almost anywhere on the 
vehicle. On one of these animals is perched a postil- 
lion with a whip. About a quarter of a mile of these 
things were stretched out in the vicinity of the station 
for the use of the party. ( )ne was painted red, and in 
this were placed ( General and Mrs. ( .rant. Aside from 
the color, all seemed to be the same, and of equally 
doubtful character and wonderful construction. There 
was a great deal of loud talking, good-natured and 
otherwise; of cracking of whips and backing and 
twisting Of the unruly animals and unwieldy vehicles. 
and we were finally away. They spared nothing, but 
set off at a merry pace, regardless of the effect. The 
road from Paso Real to San Diego has probably never 
been repaired since the original settlers took posses- 
sion of the island. If it has, it does not speak well for 
the work of the engineers. As long as it led along the 
level plain it was all very well. Soon a succession of 
hills was reached. Then the fun began. The rock- 
ing volantes rolled and swung till the occupants had 



258 8T0RT OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

to hold on for their lives. It made no difference to the 
rider; he had only one object in view — to reach San 
Diego. He did not seem to care whether the travelers 
survived to the termination of the journey or not; so 
on they flew, over ditches washed out during the rainy 
season, perhaps twenty years ago, up hill and down, 
three leagues, to San Diego of the Uaths. 

THE TROPIC SCENE. 

The scene along this road can never be painted. It 
is like a fancy picture of Paradise. The first half of the 
way is across a tolerably level country, where beauti- 
ful little prairies, or llanos, with here and there a palm, 
are succeeded by patches of forest lands, just like the 
other, in fact, except for the abundance of trees. It 
makes little difference in one respect how thickly these 
palms grow. Each, with its smooth trunk, seems to 
stand alone, as though its particular portion of the 
earth had been set apart for its use, and it enjoyed it in 
silence. There is no friendly clustering of one near 
another, but each grows there the lord of the plain, un- 
conscious of its neighbors. Only when the black hu- 
dura or the chirping warblers mount for a moment to 
its lofty top does it seem to live as other trees it over- 
shadows. 

As the mountains are approached, at the foot of 



sroh'Y OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 259 

which San Diego stands, the road leads up a little hill. 
On its crest the view is of such magnificence that Mr. 
Frank H. Taylor, the artist who rode with the corre- 
spondent, and Senor Beguria, of the Triumpho [a 
newspaper since suppressed by the government], halted 
the rider in his reckless course to make a sketch. It is 
doubtful if he caught that scene. From the hill 
over which the road crosses sweeps a gentle slope, ris- 
ing again and terminating in a little, mound, outlined 
against the receding plain beyond. Almond, mamey 
and palm trees dot the slope with varying shades of 
green. The broad, flat valley, that spreads out to- 
ward the west forms the centre of the picture. It is 
covered with luxuriant growth of grass, to which the 
recent rain has lent an unseasonable freshness. At 
the foot of the hills the chalky trunks of the palms can 
be seen, but as they go farther and farther away the 
white outline is lost, and all that remains is the deep 
emerald tint of the tops that stand like dots painted 
upon the milder hues of the background. In the dis- 
tance the mountains rise, veiled in a gauze of blue, and 
behind all the sinking sun, that gilds and touches ev- 
erything with the warmth of its tropic rays. The 
green, palm-dotted plain, the azure-tinted mountains, 
the yellow sunshine and the silence of broad expanse 
is a scene in which the poetic brush of Turner would 
have reveled. 



260 XTOlil' OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

SAN DIEGO LOS BANOS. 

It was near dusk when the caravan drew up at the 
hotel at San Diego. The village is situated upon a 
little hill on the banks of the San Diego river, a small 
>tream in the dry season, but a torrent during the rainy 
months. The population numbers about 500, but for 
three months in the year ten times as many In the 
spring season it is fashionable to go to this resort, and 
people from all parts of the island may be found here. 
Not only do invalids make their appearance, but then 
friends also, and the place is very gay. It is at once, 
for the time being, both the Saratoga and the Hot 
Springs of Cuba. 'Hie village now is very quiet; in 
fact, the strangers are just beginning to arrive. The 
houses are all very good, chiefly of <>ne story, of a 
snowv whiteness, with broad verandas and tile roofs. 
Idle hotels, of which there arc six in the place, are two- 
stories in height, with rough brick floors and ven 
little given to ornamentation. Their homely rough- 
ness is not unpleasant, however, to the traveler ac- 
customed to the elegance of the great caravanseries of 
the United States. It is a change, and the excellence 
of the table and the good order that reigns are a sur- 
prise amid such surroundings. 

The springs have been known and used by Euro- 
peans since 1740, but they were not improved by bath- 
houses and other structures necessarv to a sanitary 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 261 

and pleasure resort till 1862. There are two of these 
springs that flow from the rocky banks of the river, 
called the Templado and Tigre Springs, both thermal 
and sulphurous. Their temperature is uniform the 
year round, being 91^° Fahrenheit. The Templado 
discharges 21,000 gallons of water a minute, and the 
Tigre about one-fourth as much. 

The next morning the travelers took a bath before 
breakfast, and, while not noticing anything as remark- 
able as was fondly supposed by the Spaniards a hun- 
dred years ago from the springs of the New World, 
still a swim around the room in hot water was found to 
be pleasant and invigorating. If not completely re^ 
stored to youth, the bathers felt younger after the ex- 
perience. 

A DRINK FROM THE TREES. 

This afternoon, the male members of the party took 
a stroll across the river to the hills beyond. Passing 
the clumps of bamboo that grow along the stream, the 
palm forests were entered. The lower growth is man- 
go, sour orange and the almond, chiefly, and the wood- 
land is very strange and beautiful to one from the 
North. There were some cocoas also, and a native 
climbed the tall, smooth trunk of one with a rope and 
machete to procure a bunch of nuts. When he cut off 
the cluster of half a dozen nuts, he tied the rope to the 



262 8T0RT OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

stem, and, passing it over a branch, lowered it carefully 
to a companion on the ground. The fruit had grown 
to full size, but was not ripe, except for the water. 
When the husk was cut nearly through at the smaller 
end, a knife was inserted and a hole an inch in diameter 
made, through which the liquid was drunk. The cav- 
ity at this season contains nearly a quart of water. As 
the nut ripens this disappears, leaving only the small 
quantity of milk and the meat which appears in the 
commercial cocoa that is found in foreign markets. 
Now, there was simply a line to mark where the shell 
would be, a film to show the beginning of the growth 
of the substance of the fruit. The natives told us that 
in seven or eight months it would be ripe. 

THE FAMOUS MACHETE. 

We approached a dwelling of a native and inspected 
the surroundings. The house was made of a frame- 
work of bamboo, thatched with the long leaves of the 
palm, while the foliage of the same tree covered the ex- 
terior of the walls. The floor was the mother earth, 
and most of the domestic utensils were made of the 
shell of the gourd. The master of the house was 
dressed in coarse cotton cloth that once was white, with 
shoes on his feet and a palm-leaf hat on his head. At 
his side hung the national implement and weapon, the 
terrible machete. This last is a heavy sword or knife. 



n 
a 

Is 

«■ 53 
o >■ 

^ M 

s 2 

° 3 

2 25 



en * O 

5 Q 

«■ > 



" l-H 



>4 3 5" H 



o i-3 
a 
o H 

^a 

> 

o2 

5* 

Eg 

a 

6 3 

9 

2 H 

3 a 
£a 

§■ £ 
» 5J 

" o 
a £ 

o 

a o 

VI ^ 

pp a 

B > 
Oi *3 
<D £> 

5! 




STORY OF SPAM AND CUBA. 265 

with a thick, straight blade about twenty inches long. 
It is the arm with which the insurgents met the rifles 
of the Spanish regulars, and now serves as an ax or 
knife, or, in fact, anything to which a cutting instru- 
ment can be applied. Strange to say, the weapon is an 
imported one, those most prized being made in Con- 
necticut, and by "St. Collins." The name of the Yan- 
kee manufacturer stands high in the calendar of ghostly 
worthies in the mind of the quajiro. 

A NATIVE BALL. 

The mayor of the town showed good taste in giving 
General Grant an unusual treat, instead of something 
in the ordinary way. He divined rightly that a ball in 
the true style of the rustic, a hundred miles from the 
metropolis, would be interesting. He accordingly 
sent out invitations to the Cuban planters of the dis- 
trict to a "bade" in honor of his distinguished guest. 
At 8.30 o'clock the visitors repaired to the scene of fes- 
tivities. The ballroom was a large apartment on the 
ground floor. The Creole belles sat in chairs in a row 
along one side, and the cavaliers were similarly ar- 
ranged on the opposite side of the house. The band 
was composed of three negroes as black as midnight. 
The instruments were a guitar, a mandolin and the 
guira. The last-named was a long gourd, hollowed 
out and very dry. Upon the convex side were cut a 



2G0 STORY OF 1SPA1X A\D CUBA. 

succession of parallel grooves close together, across 
the vegetable, leaving between them a rough surface, 
on which the musician scraped another piece of gourd 
shell, making a sharp, rasping accompaniment to the 
stringed instruments. The principal dance was much 
like the first movement of an Irish jig, and went on in- 
definitely without much change, the parties who were 
dancing together keeping up a perpetual shuffle back 
and forth, toward and away, from each other, till they 
or the musicians grew tired of it, and then a quick 
kind of waltz took its place. The attire of these olive- 
skinned damsels was in nowise remarkable, consisting 
of a white or figured linen dress, trimmed with pink or 
blue ribbons, but that of the guajiro (pronounced wa- 
hero), as the rustic is called in Cuba, was decidedly so 
All wore palm-leaf hats with broad rims, which were 
never removed from the head except when raised for 
an instant as a partner was asked for the dance. The 
upper garment looked like a shirt of white or figured 
cotton or linen. In fact, it was a shirt, as known and 
worn universally in civilized society, except that in- 
stead of disappearing at the belt, its lower extremity 
extended down, floating and fluttering half way to the 
knees. The trousers were gray linen. A bright-col- 
ored cotton handkerchief was folded and passed over 
the right shoulder, the ends being brought together 
and tied closely under the left arm. At the side hung 
the machete, which was held by both hands behind the 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 267 

back when in the way of the dancer. The heel of the 
caballero was armed with a long spur, to complete the 
outfit. General Grant and his fellow-travelers looked 
on for about an hour and repaired to the hotel, but the 
"baile" lasted till morning. 

THE VUELTA ABAJO. 

Two days later I wrote : From San Diego Los Banos 
to Consolacion Del Sur it is perhaps twenty miles. 
The latter place is one of the towns of the province of 
Pinar del Rio, which comprises all that part of the 
island west of Havana. The same territory is also 
called Yuelta Abajo, or the lower country, but the 
term has no political signification, and is an old name 
for the region that antedates the division into the six 
provinces accomplished after the peace of Martinez 
Campos. It is the sandy soil of this province that pro- 
duces the tobacco for which Cuba has become cele- 
brated. 

General Grant and party left San Diego yesterday 
morning at an early hour for this place. The volantes 
were again called into requisition, together with a 
coach, expected to carry all that were left over after 
the other vehicles were filled. This coach was tin. 
Jonah of the expedition, and began at the very outset 
to go amiss. Four of the poor little horses of the 



208 STORY OF sl'MS AND CUBA. 

country were hitched to it, and two drivers put up to 
urge them. There was Mich a constant lashing and 
hallooing that the passengers offered to walk up the 
hills, being willing to do anything but help carry that 
lumbering machine. But it made no difference; it was 
all the same whether the box was full or empty. These 
Cubans are cruel to their stock, feeding them badly 
and driving them unmercifully. All the fine horses 
of the island, by the way, come from the States, the 
natives never thinking of the possibility of improving 
their domestic animals. 

The first few miles of the road led over a country 
rough and hilly, covered with dense chaparral. This 
spur of the mountain range crossed, the great tobacco 
plain was reached. Tins plateau extends from the vi- 
cinity of Paso Real, along the south side of the moun- 
tains, to the western extremity of the island, sloping 
gently to the Caribbean sea. In width, it varies con- 
siderably, but will average, perhaps, eighteen miles 
The surface is broken 1>\ small streams that flow at 
short intervals from the hills to the coast. Their i : 
little or no undergrowth of small trees, but the differ 
cut varieties of palms arc- found in abundance, inter- 
spersed with, here and there, a grove of pines, which 
give their name to the province. The red soil of the 
sugar country is scar ely seen, and in its place is found 
an ash-rolored or light-yellow sandv loam. 



STORY OF Ki'MS \M> CUBA. 269 

THE GORGEOUS GOVERNOR. 

At a little village on the plain, called Herradura (The 
Horseshoe), the governor of the province, General 
Francisco Alcosta y Alvear, with ioo cavalry, met 
General Grant and welcomed him to his domain. The 
governor was dressed in grand style. His portly form 
was encased in a short coat that fit so snugly that tlui 
buttons would no doubt have succumbed had not a 
broad patent leather belt helped them to stand the 
pressure. On his breast was a magnificent gold cross, 
awarded for some knightly dvv<\, and on his head a 
shining oilcloth cap with a gaudy tassel. His short! 
limbs were clad in scarlet trousers, with Xapoleon 
boots, armed at each heel with a silver spur. Such 
was the governor, monarch of all he surveyed — as long 
as it pleased the whim of the representative of the 
crown who ruled the destinies of this ill-fated colony. 
The Spanish regulars rode with white horses of the 
diminutive breed that are native to Cuba, and the vol- 
unteers similar steeds, hut of various colors. After 
the introduction, the party were scarcely under wa 
again when the unlucky coach lost a wheel. It was if 
use to try to repair it. The occupants had no alterna 
tive but to mount cavalry horses and ride with tin 
dragoons. Among the number put to the test were 
Reguria of the Triumpho, Yen Ada (General Grant's 



270 STORY OF SPAIX AND CUBA. 

Japanese valet) and the correspondent. When the 
riders dismounted to give way to the new recruits, 
there seemed but little room for a man on those horses, 
loaded down already from shoulder to crupper with 
the accoutrements of a soldier. There was an im- 
mense roll of something before and behind the saddle, 
done up in white linen, a carbine being on one side and 
heavy holsters on the other, interspersed with a grand 
assortment of straps, halters, lariats and other articles 
necessary to camp life. Added to the inconvenience, 
there was the oppressive heat, and the clouds of dust 
that rose under the flying hoofs of the animals. The 
attempt to repair the coach, and the frequent stops at 
the fondas, or groceries, along the road, had thrown 
the rear of the cavalcade back several miles ; but it was 
necessary to form one party for an impressive entry 
into Consolacion, so the orderly who commanded the 
troop, taking the correspondent by his side, set out at 
a swift gallop. In Japan probably there is little of this 
kind of traveling. At any rate, Yen Ada did not seem 
to have had much experience. He was plucky though 
and kept his place, flying. A country boy never en- 
: oyed his first visit to a circus more than did those 
Spaniards the spectacle. The Jap did not seem to rel- 
ish it so well, and evidently was in great apprehension 
of falling to pieces. He has not moved about with his 
usual agility since. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 273 

CONSOLACION DEL SUR. 

At 2 o'clock the town was reached, and the party 
halted at die residence of Senor Ramon Hernandez y 
Padron, who, with his brother-in-law, Jose Perez, lives 
in a low, castle-like establishment, consisting of ad- 
joining houses, around which runs a broad veranda. 
The family is immensely wealthy, owning estates for 
miles around, which are leased. They are what would 
be termed shrewd in New England, having sold out 
their slaves for about half a million when the first agi- 
tation for emancipation began. They still keep about 
sixty, however, and the house was full of them, all 
neatly dressed and apparently very bright and con- 
tented. 

Dinner was served in regal style, while a band, whose 
instruments were chiefly flutes and kettle-drums, 
played in the shade across the way. In honor of the 
United States, they attempted "Yankee Doodle," and 
the rendition of it was so indescribably funny that tin 
travelers could scarcely preserve a dtie decorum while 
listening to it. They did better when they attended 
strictly to the "Coenye," the Cuban national air. and 
other tunes more in the ordinary line of their experi- 
ence. 

A TOBACCO PLANTATION. 

As General Grant had made arrangements to return 



274 STUh'Y OF sl'M\ AND CUBA. 

today to Paso Real and to stop at the sugar plantation 
of Mr. Barbou, near Alquizar, it was necessary to visit 
the tobacco plantations that afternoon. Accordingly, 
at 4.30 o'clock, the part}- was en route once more for 
the Majagua, on the Rio Hondo, the place where the 
most celebrated of all the Cuban tobacco is grown. 
The broken coach had not yet come up, so the horses 
had to be mounted again by a portion of the company. 
It was sunset when the place was reached, after pass- 
ing through five miles of tobacco fields. The residence 
is of the low, two-story style, the walls of which are ex- 
tended back to enclose a large area in the rear. In 
front of the house, at some distance, is a broad, smooth 
quadrangle, on two sides of which are tobacco-houses, 
and on the third the quarters of the slaves. The super- 
intendent conducted the party across the fields to the 
banks of the Rio Hondo — the deep river — that runs 
through the plantation. Palm trees grow at short in- 
tervals to shade the ground from the too fervid rays of 
the sun. 

The growing of tobacco here differs from the process 
in the States in but one essential particular. The plant 
is set out the same, except that instead of cutting but 
once, new shoots come up from the stump and mature 
a second or third time. The drying and packing is also 
the same as in the North, save that instead of being 
put in wooden cases, it is packed in 100 or 120-pound 
bales, done up in the spathe of the palm leaves. 



STORY OF SPAIN AXD CUBA. 275 

A GLIMPSE OF SLAVERY. 

For the third time that day the travelers were seated 
at the table and required to partake of the spicy viands 
peculiar to a Cuban dinner. After vainly struggling 
with the sixth kind of meat, cooked with garlic and red 
pepper, the hospitable entertainer requested that his 
guests should not hurry, as there was still a great deal 
more in the kitchen. The table was spread on the ver- 
anda, and the scene was lighted by torches made of 
bundles of pine slivers bound together with withes, 
held by slaves. Mention was made of these people, 
and the superintendent had them called from their 
quarters for exhibition. First came the men and 
ranged themselves silently in double file in front of the 
porch. They were of the lowest type of the negro 
race, very black, with faces as blank as the counte- 
nances of brutes. There was that resigned look in 
their eyes that is noticed in the hopeless convicts in 
our penitentiaries. Ages of servitude had done its 
work. The intelligence even of their rude ancestors 
had been worked out by the succession of one genera- 
tion after another, whose only lot was to live and do 
the bidding of a master. These spiritless men were 
sent away, and the women were brought up in their 
places. Such a woe-begone company was never seen 
before by any of the party, and each of the spectator? 
could but wish never to look upon such a sight again. 



276 STOh'Y OF SPAIN AXD CUBA. 

They were mostly of small stature, scarcely clad, and 
without the first ray of intelligence visible in their faces. 
The children were next brought out for inspection. 
Sad little waifs they were, thoughtless and hopeless — 
a spectacle for a humanitarian to reflect upon for a life- 
time. The governor took one little fellow playfully 
by the ear, and said: "You are the bad boy that rides 
the sheep, are you?" "No, sir," he replied; "1 stay 
with the pigs," and he looked as though he spoke the 
truth. All the slaves were then called around, and the 
governor made them a brief address. He said he 
knew they must be happy. They were here living aa 
well as any people in the world, and he was confident 
they must be contented with their situation. 

There are on this plantation 130 of these creatures, 
who perform the labor in the cultivation of 500 acres 
of tobacco, with the assistance of forty hands who are 
free. The region ordinarily produces 6000 pounds to 
the acre, and is owned by Miguel Jane, whose factory 
is in Havana. 

As the moon would not rise till late, it was decided to 
start back by starlight. The way to the crossing of 
the river was illuminated by a party of slaves, carrying 
torches, accompanied by an overseer, at whose heels 
trotted one of those terrible bloodhounds, used to fol- 
low the footsteps of human prey. It is the fear of these 
fierce dogs that is the strongest link in the chains of 
the degraded blacks. If one attempted to escape it 



STORY OF SPAIN A^\D VI HA. 277 

would be but a question of a few hours when these re- 
lentless brutes would be upon him, and their fangs 
would be tearing his flesh. They are as tireless as the 
wind, and as unerring as the needle that holds ever to 
its guiding star. The little group of men at the high 
bank of the river, the flickering lights, and the silent 
terror that slunk back in the shadows, formed a weird 
and sinister picture, but it was soon forgotten when 
the spot was passed, and the last murmur of the water, 
mingled with the low hum of voices, melted awa\ in 
the distance, and the magnificent scenery of the tropic 
heavens engaged the attention of the travelers. 

A TROPIC NIGHT. 

In the clear warm air of this latitude the stars blaze 
out as never in the Northern heavens. In the South 
new constellations hang their beacons, and burn and 
glitter in dazzling silence that seems almost out of 
place. It would not be so strange if the roar of these 
flaming lights should break upon the ear, but it does 
not, and in their glow they hold themselves away uj 
out of reach, where sound is lost in space incalculable. 
Before Consolacion was reached, the moon crept 
gradually up from the edge of the plain and shed its 
brightness over the shadowy land, where the rays from 
the stars had but half softened the darkness into twi- 
light. 



278 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

It was 1 1 o'clock when the travelers drew up once 
more at Consolacion del Sur, quite ready to rest after 
the long journey of the day. 

I took occasion to ask a Cuban-American some 
questions yesterday about the condition of the blacks. 
"Do these people have any idea of the domestic life of 
the enlightened portion of mankind?" I inquired. 

"No," he said, "very little. They rarely marry, but 
live together promiscuously like animals. In fact, sir, 
the lower classes of Cubans hardly ever get married. 
The church asks $300, or about that, for the perform- 
ance of the rite, and it is a luxury they cannot afford 
Consequently marriage becomes merely a matter of 
mutual consent, but it is generally observed with great 
constancy." 

"Are the children of such alliances regarded as le- 
gitimate?" I asked. 

"No/' he responded, "not in law, although they have 
certain rights not conceded to those born without the 
pale of even this contract." 

Such a condition of things under the rule of a church 
that is absolute, almost, even in temporal affairs, whose 
mission is such that it puts a premium upon vice and 
lawlessness instead of spreading its protecting mantle 
over marital virtue, needs no comment, 




ATTACK UPON A FORT NEAR VUELTAS. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 281 



CHAPTER XI- 

MUKAT HALSTEAD ON THE CUBAN CRISIS. 

Friends whose good opinion I very much value con- 
tinue to write expressing dissent from conclusion as 
to Cuba stated in my report to the Journal on the situ- 
ation of the people and the possibilities of the war- 
wasted island, which is by nature one of the choicest 
possessions in the world, and I give to the public a 
letter just received from one with whom I have often 
sympathized in conflicts over the great questions that 
involved the rights of man and the welfare of the re- 
public : 

"Indianapolis, Ind., March 13, 1896. 

"My Dear Mr. Halstead: The Indianapolis News 
of yesterday republishes your letter in the New York- 
Journal on Cuban annexation. I regard your position 
on that question untenable. For my part, I can see 
no good reason for our having Cuba. That island as 
an independent nation, and its people, our friends as 
well as neighbors, would certainly be of far more value 
to us than to have it as one of our States. T think we 
have now about all the territory we can convenientlv 
manage. You remember that Rome's large area of 



282 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

territory had to do with her downfall about as much as 
anything else. With Cuba as an independent nation, 
and also a tributary one to our trade and commerce, 
and with reciprocity, she would lend us a mighty help- 
ing hand. Hence, it would be in her own independ- 
ence as a nation, and not as one of the stars in our own 
national galaxy of States, that we would, if at all, be the 
real gainers. You say that 'Cuba is a mortgaged 
plantation,' etc., and if so, why should we want to have 
it? Her mortgagee is Spain, and are we to assume 
her debt, or to repudiate it ? To do either would not 
seem to be a very good national policy on our part if. 
as you say, 'Cuba is a farm that Spain has borrowed 
money on,' etc. Could we also repudiate that debt 
still? It seems to me that your whole line of argument 
in favor of Cuban annexation is bad. Had we not. 
after all, better let Cuba alone, and attend a little more 
closely to something nearer home? 

"My old friend, I have, as you know, in years gone 
by, sat at your feet as one did once at those of Gama- 
liel, and learned wisdom, but now on this question of 
Cuban annexation I must seek another instructor. 
Hoping you are enjoying good health, I remain, as 
ever, your friend, 

"W. H. LANCASTER." 

In the report to the New York Journal reproduced 
by the Indianapolis News, and largely quoted and 
much commented on, as I am glad to hear, it was my 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 283 

endeavor to deal with those concerned "with malice 
toward none and charity to all" — that is, in a spirit of 
justice to all. 

I am not sure of the better way of adjusting the debts 
Spain made in conquering the island and charged to 
it, but if we paid off the mortgage and imparted the 
element of freedom, our return in riches would be 
ample. The history of Rome troubled me only when 
I was a youth, and the annexation of Cuba would help 
us to take care of what we have got. 

The four centuries' history of the island, the most 
ancient civilization in the American world, and the 
people as they are now, have interested me intensely, 
and have been studied with sincerity. 

I find that the people of Cuba have grievances that 
make imperative their resistance to the continuance 
of the distinction of being the last of the Spanish colo- 
nies of America — and I say this with no hostility to- 
ward Spain. She is better off, as she is ruled, because 
she has lost the rest of her wonderful American find, 
including the whole continental coast of the Gulf of 
Mexico and the Pacific coast from California to Pata- 
gonia, and the islands that have been separated from 
her sovereigntv, and they have been gainers by declar- 
ing and making good their independence. The teach- 
ing of this historv of Spanish dominion and disunion 
is true, and the logic of it in the case of Cuba is clear, 
binding and as irresistible as it is unmistakable. Spain 



284 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

and Cuba should be free from each other. Each could 
have peace and prosperity — be infinitely better off — 
if the association that has become unfortunate to both 
could be dissevered at once and forever. They are 
interlocked in the deadly embrace of fatal war, and if 
there could be a friendly abandonment of this fatality 
each would be happier and more prosperous than for 
a century. 

The policy of the United States should, in my judg- 
ment, in the most serious and decorous way consistent 
with the urgency < >f earnestness, be directed to secure 
this severance. 

General Weyler, in my opinion, is a very able man, 
and there is no doubt he has shown severe firmness and 
striking capacity in the proceedings of his first month 
as captain-general and governor-general of Cuba. I 
hope not to incur the ill-will of the patriots of Cuba, 
but I am bound in candor to say. they generally believe 
a good many things of this man that in my estimation 
of the evidence are incredible and impossible. Whether 
( reneral Weyler is a great military man remains to be 
seen. He was certainly a dashing and dangerous offi- 
cer, and returned to Cuba as the master of the Spanish 
forces with a reputation for ferocity that amounted to 
fame for savagery. The ultra-Spanish faction thought 
Campos too gentle to be efficient. The failure of Wey- 
ler will not be charged to that, and will be far more 
significant — indeed, revolutionary. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 285 

I say the failure of Weyler, because he has already 
failed in a promise that he was pleased to make. It 
has been denied, but he personally told me substanti- 
ally the same. It was that March 15 (mark the date' 
he would be positively able to report great results — 
decisive results. Now, these were: 

1. He would force the insurgents by constant pres- 
sure and incessantly seeking combats, out of the prov- 
inces of Pinar del Rio, Havana and Matanzas — the 
western half of the island — that had been sorely rav- 
aged within the last three months, but was unscathed 
throughout the ten years' war of 1868 and 1878. The 
captain-general was good enough to point out the 
place where he "had them" 1 and where they must go 
as he "oriented them," that is, drove them eastward ! 

2. This concentration and energetic use of the Span- 
ish forces — of which General Weyler has said fre- 
quently he had enough to go anywhere and do any- 
thing — was to be, in his opinion, so far efficacious by 
the middle of March that cane could be ground every- 
where in the island west of Matanzas — that is, the 
centre — and it is precisely this portion of the country 
that contains the richest sugar plantations. There is 
no mistaking the issues of time and the fact in this un- 
derstanding, or of avoiding the test that the captainr 
general has set up for himself. We have the answer 
already. He has failed to save the portion of the 
sugar crop that the torch has spared; and it does not 



286 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

matter chiefly what the tax on sugar farms and on the 
sugar exported is, or whether the resources of Spanish 
revenue will be destroyed or not. There is a deeper, 
graver question than that — and it is whether the sugar 
business is perishing. Whether under existing con- 
ditions it has not passed away! 

Right alongside that is the tobacco question — and 
it should be remembered that in the strange politics of 
Cuba, sugar is held to be the friend of Spain and to- 
bacco the helper of Cuba. Well, the tobacco crop is 
very largely lost. The finest tobacco-fields on the 
earth are in the west end of Cuba and the most cele- 
brated west of Havana, and they have been devastated, 
trampled by the insurgent cavalry and the Spanish 
columns, and deserted by laborers and ruinously neg- 
lected. It has been the misguided policy of the ruler? 
of Cuba to make the production of sugar and tobacco 
almost monopolize the industries of the island. In- 
stead of a protective system, or even a friendly regard 
for manufactories, the Cubans have been forced to ac- 
cept the articles manufactured in Spain. When sugar 
and tobacco fail at once, therefore, it means a degree of 
destruction of personal interests inconceivable in the 
affairs of this country. 

It was with this sweeping disaster plainly ahead — al- 
ready, indeed, bitterly experienced — that the deputa- 
tions representing the sugar interests crowded around 
General Weyler and implored and insisted that there 



ti'l'ORY OF XfAlA A.\D CUBA. 2H\) 

should be a time fixed when, if ever, the cane-grinders 
could be protected, and he committed himself to March 
15, about as late a day as he could venture to name. 
He is unable to keep his word, and this is not the Key 
West and Tampa news so furiously discredited by 
Spain. It is the bottom fact of the military and eco- 
nomic conditions of Cuba. Doubtless Spain could, 
as Spaniards say, endure the decline of revenue from 
sugar and tobacco, and it is true, as the Spanish Min- 
ister says, that of the $26,000,000 annual revenue from 
Cuba, $18,000,000 is from customs; but the loss of the 
nearly $100,000,000 a year, market value, of sugar and 
tobacco crops is not merely a vacuum in the public 
treasury of the amount of the taxes, it is the obliteration 
of the capital active in the industries of the island and 
the abolition of business itself, and that is the point to 
which all material tendencies in Cuba drift irrecov- 
erably. 

Now, they may talk of the sympathies or otherwise 
of the United States — of the granting or refusal of bel- 
ligerent rights by the great republic with or without 
knowledge of a seat of independent government in the 
island — of the debates in our Congress, and the eccen- 
tric threats of the Spaniards that they will go to "war 
with the Yankees" and "lay New York in ashes, ,, as 
some bellicose asses have threatened — probably when 
well dosed with rum — but the crisis which is to be de- 
cisive in Cuba will be the business collapse — and I 



290 STORY OF SPAIN AXD CUBA. 

fancy that may be precipitated by the failure of Gen- 
eral Weyler to keep his engagement with the sugar 
makers and cannot be indefinitely delayed. 

There is no other prospect, and I do not care what 
the Havana or the Tampa, the Madrid or Washington 
news is, for any other termination of the war than that 
of a general catastrophe. General Weyler cannot oc- 
cupy the whole island. If 50,000 more soldiers were 
sent — as may be done by calling out the Spanish re- 
serves — still he could not conquer the people on 40,000 
square miles. The natives of the island who are for 
the Spanish cause, unless they are surrounded by the 
armies of Spain, are scarce and not important. The 
Spaniards who believe that in the country the people 
would rise up for Spain if the raiding rebels wen- 
driven away are deluded. Spain has no real friends in 
Cuba but her soldiers, and not all of them can be 
counted on under all circumstances. 

The insurgents cannot stand in battle array before 
the massed columns of Spain, and the military geniu ; 
of Gomez is shown in his consummate campaigns o\ 
evasion. He is in his seventy-third year, and if he 
comes out of this war, as he has conducted it againsl 
extraordiary odds, or is killed today, his march of 600 
miles through the length of Cuba, beset by vastly su- 
perior forces, and his successful evasion of them and 
the accomplishment of his purposes as a destroyer, will 
be famous for all time merely as a military operation; 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 291 

but he cannot hold any important place in the moun- 
tains or by the sea permanently, or drive the Spaniards 
from the soil on which they may have spread their 
encampments, though he can use the rest of the do- 
main for war purposes. 

This is to say, the war goes on, and the business de- 
pression will culminate in a comprehensive crash. The 
^o,ooo volunteers of the island — the rolls show 63,000 
men, but 50,000 is about the number of effectives — 
represent the escape of Spanish conscripts through 
the Cuban militia service and the acceptance, at rates 
far below those that would prevail in a free country, of 
the business situations in Cuban cities — business and 
situations — that the war is causing to disappear in the 
general wreck. These men keep their guns in their 
houses and represent the drilled and armed physical 
force in the towns, as the organized and equipped in- 
surgents do in the country. The volunteers have 
more than once deposed captains-general and may dr. 
so again. They hold the balance of power, and some 
day must assert themselves. 

The Spaniards and Cubans entangled in war are in 
the rapids, helplessly under way to shoot their Niagara . 
and all the Americans and Europeans on the shores o v 
the two worlds cannot stop them. When the eras 1 ! 
comes below the cataract we shall expect the volun- 
teers to take such action as may seem to them to be 
most consistent with their instincts of self-preserva- 



292 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

tion, and this must be in the direction of the autonomy 
of Cuba — the liberation of the people thereof — and the 
only refuge, it seems to me, is ultimately in the United 
States, the only possible condition being that of self- 
government as one of our States — and I believe the 
Cubans competent to do their duty as American citi 
zens — that the white race will, of course, continue to 
be the predominant factor of the population, and that 
the intelligence, courage and general capacity of the 
black people — those who are of the color of my friend, 
Mr. Lancaster, of Indianapolis — will maintain the po- 
sition which they have rapidly attained since their 
emancipation, and that they will be a credit and ex- 
ample to their race and an object-lesson of profound 
interest and value to us, and that the splendor of Cuba 
as a State would speedily lead all opponents captive. 






STORT OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 293 



CHAPTER Xll. 

INCIDENTS OF THE WAR. 

Bilboa, Spain, March 9. 

There was another anti-American riot here today, 
and it was of greater importance than the previous so- 
called patriotic disturbance caused by the action of the 
Congress of the United States in regard to Cuba. 
About 12,006 people took part this afternoon in the 
popular demonstration. 

The excitement was started by a group of young 
men at a street corner, who began cheering every sol- 
dier who passed by. Their conduct was soon imi- 
tated by other groups of people, until every soldier 
seen was cheered by the crowds, and some musicians 
who refused to repeat the national anthem were hus- 
tled, beaten and otherwise maltreated. 

The excitement increased, and riotous groups 
formed in the main streets, cheering for Spain and de- 
nouncing the United States. The authorities did 
everything possible to maintain order. Almost the 
entire police force was turned out as soon as the popu- 
lace assumed a threatening aspect, and the rioters were 
dispersed ag-ain and again. Eventually, however, the 



294 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

mob became so numerous and excited that the police 
were almost helpless. 

After the first demonstration of sympathy with the 
army, the crowds had armed themselves with sticks 
and cudgels, and their numbers were so great that the 
police were swept aside and an immense crowd gath- 
ered on the leading- thoroughfare and marched toward 
the residence of the United States consul, shouting, 
"Long live Spain!" "Down with the Yankees!" 

U. S. CONSUL'S RESIDENCE STONED. 

On their way to the consul's residence, they hurled 
stones through the windows of stores and private resi- 
dences, overturned a number of vehicles, pulled several 
mounted policemen from their horses and generally 
behaved in the most threatening manner. Stores 
dealing in American goods received the most attention 
from the mob, and the windows of the consul's house 
were badly shattered, although the police defended the 
building. 

The mob then proceeded in the direction of the 
I nited States consulate, evidently intending to stone 
that building as well. But the authorities had taken 
the precaution to send a strong force of police to guard 
that building, and another detachment of police was 
stationed across the streets leading to the consulate. 



1 




STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 297 

When the mob neared the consulate, it was confronted 
by the police with drawn swords. The mob halted, 
and then began pelting the police most vigorously 
with stones and pieces of brick. 

THE POLICE FIRED ON. 

The policemen, however, held their ground, and a 
squad of officers charged the rioters. The latter be- 
gan firing pistols at the policemen, two of whom were 
wounded. This caused the police to charge in a body, 
and, using their swords with good effect, the rioters 
were dispersed, yelling and hooting at the authorities 
and shouting "Down with the Yankees!" and "Long 
live Spain!" 

The police, who made a number of arrests, experi- 
enced considerable difficulty in escorting their prison- 
ers to the depots. 

During the whole afternoon there was more or less 
disorder. It was decided to keep both the police 
proper and the gendarmes confined to barracks until 
further orders, as there seemed to be danger of an- 
other outbreak. 

The United States consulate is now guarded by a 
strong detachment of gendarmes, armed with carbines, 
revolvers and swords, and they have instructions to 
protect the consulate at any cost. 



29S STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

MARTIAL LAW IN VALENCIA. 

Valencia, March 9. 
The action of the mob element in this city became 
so threatening Sunday that martial law was proclaimed 
last night. A crowd numbering fully 10,000 persons 
met outside the bull-ring and attempted to enter that 
place for the purpose of holding a meeting to express 
anti- American sentiments. The authorities had is- 
sued an order forbidding the holding of such meetings, 
but no attention was paid to it. The gendarmes at the 
bull-ring refused to allow the mob to enter, and were 
told that they were traitors to Spain. Then several 
persons in the crowd cried. "Long live the Republic!" 
whereupon the gendarmes charged the mob. The 
crowd answered with several revolver shots, and one 
of the gendarmes was seriously wounded in the chest. 

FIRE ON THE MOB. 

The situation had assumed such a menacing aspect 
that orders were given to the gendarmes to fire upon 
the mob. A volley was fired by the gendarmes, and 
the crowd scurried for shelter. Later, the courage of 
the crowd returned, and. with augmented numbers, 
the mob marched through the streets, shouting, "Long 
live Spain!" "Death to the Yankees!'' The police and 
gendarmes repeatedly opposed the crowd, but their 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 299 

efforts to restore order were not of the slightest avail. 
The governor of the province then proclaimed martial 
law, and any further rioting will he dealt with sternly 
by the military power. 

WBYLBR'S NEW PROCLAMATION'S. 

Havana, March 9. 

Captain-General Weyler has issued circulars declar- 
ing: 

"I have promulgated an order that the teachers of 
divinity of the Provinces of Matanzas, Santa Clara, 
Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba, who, con- 
fessedly, have taken part in the movements of the 
rebels, shall be pardoned on making their submission, 
surrendering their arms and placing themselves under 
the surveillance of the lawful authority, provided they 
have not committed other crimes since the issuance of 
my last proclamation. The teachers of divinity, who, 
without arms, shall come in under the same circum- 
stances, will be immediately transferred to the encamp- 
ments, forces, towns and in general where they may be 
under the immediate vigilance of the troops, and all 
the teachers shall be under the control of the com- 
mandants in whatever jurisdiction they may be as- 
signed." 

A proclamation has also been issued concerning the 
conduct of the war. It says: 



you ST0R7 OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

"I make known to our harassed troops and to those 
who attempt to demoralize them as they pursue east- 
ward rebel parties more numerous than those whom 
they leave in the provinces of Pinar del Rio and Ha- 
vana, that the time has arrived to pursue with the great- 
est activity and rigor the little bands, more of outlaws 
than insurgents, who have remained in the said prov- 
inces, and to adopt whatever measures are necessary 
for the proper and immediate carrying out of that in- 
tention." The proclamation then proceeds to regulate 
the operations of the troops and direct the formation 
of volunteer forces. 

TREATMENT OP INSURGENTS. 

Concerning the treatment of insurgents, the proc- 
lamation says: "If, in the case of insurgent parties who 
have robbed, sacked, burned or committed other out- 
rages during the rebellion, anyone who will give in- 
formation as to the participation that such persons 
may have had in them, not only those who may have 
been in the rebel ranks, but also those who have suc- 
cored them or who have not remained in their homes, 
they will be fittingly punished. Rebels who may not 
be responsible for any other crime, who, within the 
term of fifteen days, present themselves to the nearest 
military authority in both provinces, and who will as- 
sist in the apprehension of anyone guilty of the fore- 






STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 301 

going" offenses, will not be molested, but will be placed 
at my disposal. Those who have presented themselves 
at any earlier time will be pardoned. Those who may 
have committed any other crimes or who obstructed 
any public cargo proceeding to its destination will be 
judged according to the antecedents, and their case 
will be withheld for final determination." 

KING ALFONSO HANGED IN EFFIG1. 

Chicago, March 9. 

His Majesty Alfonso, King of Spain, has been 
hanged in effigy in the vicinity of Madison street and 
Campbell avenue. The crowd of enthusiastic young 
persons who performed the job escaped identification. 
The figure was found suspended from a rope, which 
was thrown over a telephone wire. The effigy hung 
fifteen feet in the air, and attracted a crowd of persons, 
who gazed at the fearful and wonderful piece of con- 
struction, and inwardly saw visions of war and guns. 
Upon that part of the effigy's anatomy which would 
ordinarily be called the breast was the following in- 
scription: "Alfonso XIII, King of Spain. Sic Semper 
Tyrannis." 

The figure was first discovered by a woman. The 
effigy seemed so real, hanging in a dark street as it did, 
that she fainted and had to be carried to a neighboring 
store. 



302 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUB 

At the close of a party given last evening by the 
students of the Northwestern University, at Evanston, 
one of the boys mounted a chair and tore a big Spanish 
flag in two. Before the flag was allowed to fall to the 
floor, it was torn into a number of pieces, so that every 
person present might have had one as a memento of 
the occasion had he so desired. The young men 
worked themselves np to quite a frenzy, and their war- 
like manifestations were vigorously applauded by the 
girls, who were interested spectators. The disturb- 
ance was finally quelted by some of the older members 
of the class, and the warlike young men contented 
themselves with marching up and down the streets, 
singing various patriotic songs and giving three 
groans for the flag. 

FIERCE CUBAN BATTLES. 

Havana, February 9. 
The fighting in Pinar Province in the last few days 
has been the most severe since the beginning of the 
war. The condition to which the Spanish forces in 
the west are reduced has led Marin to abandon the at- 
tempt to force a battle with Gomez, delay his return to 
Havana, and go to the relief of the beleaguered towns. 
Maceo's forces include the bands of Miro, Sotomayor. 
Delgado, Zeyas and Bermudez. The official govern- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 305 

ment report gives them a strength of 600; it is probably 
much greater. 

The combined forces fought a pitched battle with 
Luque, at Paso Real, last Monday. The latter re- 
ported that the rebels formed in line of battle and 
charged the Spanish lines with great valor. Luque 
claimed a complete victory, and asked for the San 
Fernando Cross, having remained in command, 
though shot through the leg. After the fight, Luque 
withdrew his forces to the capital of the province. 

The same parties of rebels Wednesday besieged Can- 
delaria, a railroad town near the Havana border. They 
had apparently recovered from the battle with Luque. 
The volunteers and a small detachment made a heroic 
defense of Candelaria for twenty-six hours. Marin, 
who was about leaving Artemisia for Havana, or- 
dered Canella to the relief of Candelaria and to attack 
Maceo. He took all the available forces, and pro- 
ceeded in person to support Canella. 

The latter made a remarkable march, reached Can- 
delaria, and found insurgents swarming in the towns 
in that vicinity. The garrison held out, though many 
fell. The troops of the Simancia and Zamoria bat- 
talions attacked the besiegers, and the fight continued 
two hours. The insurgents made several machete 
charges against Spanish troops. The latter used ar- 
tillery. The losses were heavy on both sides. The 
troops finally entered Candelaria Thursday night. The 



306 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

insurgents moved west to San Christobal. Marin's 
column arrived at Candelaria, and Canella followed 
Alaceo. Another battle is expected. 

It is impossible to learn the losses at Candelaria ac- 
curately. The government says twenty-six dead in- 
surgents were found on the field of battle, and that 
nineteen more were afterward discovered. Their own 
losses are given as five dead and forty-eight wounded. 
Acting Captain-General Marin returned to Havana 
today from the field. In an interview with the corre- 
spondent of the United Press, he said of the insur- 
gents : 

"1 have not altered my previous opinion. The in- 
surgents can never be recognized as an organized 
army, because the first condition of such a body is 
honor, whereas the insurgents think it no dishonor to 
flee from an enemy to avoid an encounter. A regular 
military body would think it a dishonor to attack de- 
fenseless soldiers, whereas the insurgents think nothing 
of it. They do not hesitate to force men into their 
ranks during their passage through the country, which 
results in the impressed men becoming targets for the 
Spanish army. In one word, what the insurgents' or- 
ganization is is a question." 

Gomez was last reported between Artemisia and the 
western border of Havana Province. 

The American correspondent, Mannix, remains, 
pending the result of the action of the State Depart- 






STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 307 

ment at Washington against his summary expulsion. 

Luque has gone to Cienfuegos to reeover from the 
effects of the wound received at Paso Real. The gov- 
ernment reports Jose Maceo wounded in the leg, in 
Santiago Province, and also Bermudez killed. Neither 
report is confirmed. 

The exodus of Cubans continues, and arrests of sus- 
pects are increasing in number. Twenty townspeople 
of Punta Padre, Santiago Province, were brought here 
yesterday. 

Cavalrymen arrived from Spain Thursday without 
horses. There is some difficulty in obtaining mounts. 
The government recently mounted over 2000 infantry- 
men. Additional volunteers are being recruited here 
to do garrison duty in place of those sent to the field. 

CUBAN PRISONS. 

Two hundred and twelve men are confined in two 
cells of Alorro Castle. 

They are political prisoners, or suspects, awaiting 
trial. Some have been there a week, some a month, 
some a year. 

Two are American citizens, one is a British subject. 
There is a boy of fourteen years, born in Spain and not 
long enough in this country to dream of rebelling 
against the government. There are men bowed in 
years, young men, merchants, professional men, clerks 



308 STORY OF SPA IN AND CUBA. 

and farm laborers, all gathered in and thrown together 
with little or no evidence of having aided or taken 
part in the insurrection. 

In the Cabanas prison, close by, and in other prisons 
all over the island, are other unfortunates, 2000, 3000, 
perhaps 4000 altogether, for no man may know how 
many people Spain has behind the bars at this time 
in Cuba. In times of war. foreigners, newspaper cor- 
respondents and tourists arc supposed to be shut oul 
of Spanish prisons, but relatives and friends are ad- 
mitted to Morro Castle Sundays and Wednesdays. 

VISIT TO MOERO CASTLE. 

On one of these days recently a visitor crossed the 
rowboat ferry from Havana, to the landing between 
Cabanas and Morro Castle, walked up the pebble- 
paved approach to the latter, and passed within the 
old battlements. Spanish soldiers, to the number of 
200, lounged around the entrance and courtyard. 
About half of them were on duty. In the centre of the 
court, some fifty or sixty visitors were grouped in 
front of the two principal cells. Guards kept an open 
space ten feet with' between the visitors and the barred 
doors and windows of the cells. Bundles of clothing 
and food were opened and searched by the guards be- 
fore being passed to the prisoners. Conversation be- 
tween those behind the bars and those without had n> 



STORY OF STAIN AND CUBA. 309 

be carried on in a loud voice. Wives spoke encour- 
agement to husbands, and mothers to sons, and told 
of efforts being made to obtain a release. 

THE CELLS ARE FILTHY. 

Each cell is about twenty feet wide and nearly ioo 
feet deep. They are of stone, arched above, and are 
more like subterranean tunnels than rooms for human 
beings. The only openings are at the ends. They 
are in the lower part of the building, within the outer 
walls, and have the appearance of being intended for 
storing supplies. They are damp and filthy, and are 
said to be infested with vermin. Nothing in the shape 
of chairs, benches or beds is provided. There are, 
however, hooks for fifty hammocks in each room. 
Friends of the prisoners supply the hammocks, but as 
there are 108 men in one room and 104 in the other, 
over half the number are compelled to sleep on the 
stone floor. 

Water is furnished twice a day in square cans, which 
once contained kerosene oil. Regular army rations 
are served. The sanitary arrangements are vile. 
Many men are taken from the cells to the hospital be- 
fore the slow-moving authorities see fit to try their 
cases or admit that they have no case. One of the 
prisoners is Lopez Colomo, who left Matanzas in the 
early days of the rebellion. Like Juan Gualberto Go- 



310 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

mez, who died in Ceuta prison, Colomo presented him- 
self when Captain-General Callija issued his procla- 
mation granting amnesty to all insurgents who sur- 
rendered. He has been in prison over a year, and has 
not been given a trial, and stands a good chance of 
dying in prison. 

A PEACEFUL AMERICAN LOCKED TIGHT. 

Another of the prisoners is Ladislao (Juintero, an 
American citizen, one of the peaceful residents of 
Guatao, who was taken prisoner in his own house, and 
shot in the arms after being captured. He never took 
part in the insurrection. His wife hied a statement 
with the American consul six weeks ago. Another 
prisoner is Manuel Francisco Aguero. He claims to 
be an American citizen, and though he was arrested in 
luly, 1895. the American consul said lie had never 
heard of the case until 1 laid it before him. Aguero is 
a general agent or manager of traveling circuses, is 
nearly sixty years old, has only one arm, and there are 
only three fingers on his remaining hand. He speaks 
fair English, and savs he has visited the United States 
yearly to obtain features for his circuses, and lived 
there at one time five years, when he took out citizen- 
ship papers. He says that he has taken no part in the 
present war, and was arrested in Guarra, Havana prov- 
ince, July 7, of last year. He states that his citizen- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 313 

ship papers were left with a Mr. Pelletria, acting vice- 
consul at Sagua, during the absence of the consul, Mr. 
Daniel Mullin. He says he cannot get his papers back 
from Sagua, as Mr. Pelletria and Mr. Mullin are no 
longer there. Consul-General Williams has agreed 
to write to Sagua to learn if Aguero is registered there 
as an American citizen. There is a British subject in 
Morro, who has been there for about four months, but 
as he is informed that steps have been taken which 
have demonstrated his innocence, and will probablv 
result in his release inside of a week, he does not want 
his name mentioned. 

NEARLY ALL ARE WHITE. 

Nearly all of the 212 prisoners in Morro are white. 
One is a smoothed-cheeked Spanish lad of fourteen, 
who was clerk in a store in a small town in the in- 
terior of Havana province. He lost his position, and 
was walking along the highway to Havana when ar- 
rested, and charged with being a rebel. 

In the casements of Morro are other political pris- 
oners besides the 212, and in Cabanas, Sanguilly, the 
only American who has had a trial, is confined. His 
case has been appealed, as the evidence did not war- 
rant his conviction. Cepero, another American, who 
has been in the Cabanas prison two months, is now at 
the Presidios prison, Havana, and will be taken to 



314 STORY OF SPAIN AM) CUBA. 

Sama Clara for trial. The two Someillans, father and 
son, have been released after about six weeks in prison, 
there being no evidence against them. They were 
American citizens, and are well known in the tobacco 
trade. 

Walter Grant Dvgert, the American in Guines jail, 
about whom the Senate has questioned the State De- 
partment, was arrested and identified by the Spanish 
officials as tin- rebel leader "el Inglecito" — the Eng- 
lishman — but as the latter is still fighting at the head 
of an insurgent column, Dvgert is now said to be an- 
other Inglecito on his way to join the rebels, and the 
claim is made that a rifle was found near the spot where 
lie was arrested. Dvgert declares he had no arms, and 
did not intend joining the rebels. 

One other American citizen in jail is Rodriguez, 
who was arrested on board the American steamer 
Olivette five weeks ago. He is at Cabanas. 

FRANCE GIVES A PRTSOXER, TOO. 

There is one Frenchman, Honore Laine, in either 
the Morro or Cabanas prisons. He was arrested at 
a hotel in Havana two months ago, and has never been 
given a hearing. Aside from these whom I have 
named, the political prisoners are Cubans, almost with- 
out exception. They are not in any sense prisoners 
of war. They are peaceable citizens, dragged out of 






STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 315 

their homes, away from families dependent upon them 
for support, and sent to the Alorro prison. 

If there is any real evidence against them, they are 
deported to the Spanish penal colony at Cueta, Africa. 

Those remaining at Morro prison are men who have 
not rebelled against Spain, but whom Spain suspects 
of disloyalty. Were it not for the hope of release that 
is ever present in their breasts, their fate — that of slow 
death in Morro Castle — might be considered worse 
than that of men who have shouldered a gun and 
fought the soldiers of Spain. Prisoners of war in 
Cuba are given drumhead courtmartials and promptly 
shot. Political suspects rot in jail. 

PROVINCES IN ASHES. 

Some idea of the extent of the ruin in Cuba may be 
gathered from the following list of towns which have 
been destroyed in the four western provinces: 

IN HAVANA PROVINCE. 

Benjucal, Jaruco, Wajay, Melena, de Sur, Bainoa, 
Lecatalina, Sannicholas, Nueva Paz. 

IN PINAR DEL RIO PROVINCE. 

Cabanas, Cavajabos, Palacios, Paso Real, San Die- 
go de Los Banos, Vinales, San Juan Martinez, Mon- 



31ts STORY OF SPAlb IND CUBA. 

tezuelo, Los Arroyos, Cuana, Bahia, Honica, San 
Diego, Nunez, Quiebra, Hacha. 

IN MATANZAS PROVINCE. 

Macagua, San [ose, Los Ramos, Roque, Torriente. 

IN SANTA CLARA. 

Amaro, Salamanca, Mata, Mora, Maltiempo, San 
Juan Los Yeras, Ranchuelo. 

Besides these, over twenty-live towns have been half 
burned. Most of these towns have been burned by 
the insurgents, for resisting attacks, or because they 
were being used as depots of supplies for government 
troops. 

In some cases, like that of Cabanas, the troops de- 
molished the town to prevent the insurgents from oc- 
cupying it. Very little of the destruction has been 
done wantonly by either side. 

When the insurgents, led by Maceo, first entered 
Pinar Del Rio, every town in the province except the 
capital city welcomed him with open arms, and no 
property was injured. Later, the government troops 
entered the province, and, moving in strong columns, 
dislodged the insurgents from town to town, establish- 
ing their own garrisons there. Thereupon the inhab- 
itants burned their own town, and nearly the entire 
province is now in ashes. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 317 

Spanish troops occupy the city of Pinar del Rio, the 
towns of Candelaria, Artemisia and the port of Coliza. 
All the rest of the province is in the hands of the 
enemy. Recently a Spanish force was sent to estab- 
lish a base of supplies at Guane. Upon the approach 
of the column the residents burned their town. 

In the general devastation of Pinal del Rio, tobacco 
warehouses have been burned, and the indications are 
that this crop will not be permitted to reach the coast. 
Banana and pineapple crops will also be interfered 
with. Shipments from the interior to the seacoast 
towns have been so completely blocked, that at Guines 
in this province, cows are offered for sale at $4 each, 
pigs at $1, turkeys at forty cents and eggs and milk 
have no price. 

Here, in Havana, these things are worth four times 
the customary price, and codfish, imported in large 
quantities for consumption in the interior, is offered 
for one and one-half cents per pound, but a little more 
than the duty alone. 

Thousands of people are destitute, and were it not 
for tropical fruits and the tropical climate, starvation 
would be theirs. 

General Weyler's decree, in ordering the confisca- 
tion of property in Havana and Pinal del Rio provinces 
of all who fail to report allegiance to Spain, has pro- 
duced great indignation. His decrees against plant- 



318 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

ers and others who contribute funds or aid to the in- 
surgents in any way applies to the case of American 
owners of estates who have paid money to insurgents 
for the protection of their property. 

Yesterday, three owners of estates not twenty miles 
from Havana called upon General Weyler, and asked 
permission to pay a tax to the insurgents so that they 
could be permitted to grind and save their crops. Wey- 
ler became very angry at once, and told his callers that 
if they paid a peseta to the rebels he would have them 
locked up as traitors to Spain. 

General Panio, in command of the Second Corps at 
Santa Clara, has issued a proclamation calling upon 
every citizen to join the volunteers, and declaring that 
all who are able to carry arms and do not do so show 
weakness in their patriotic sentiments. All mayors 
of towns are directed to prepare lists of all who are 
indifferent or suspected and send them to him. 

At a mass meeting called for the purpose in Santa 
Clara, General Luque read the decree and called upon 
all to obey it. He said in his address: "Do not believe 
that our situation is critical. Every day we chastise 
the rebels; but there is a nation now that wishes to 
sympathize with those hordes, and the hour has come 
when the Spanish should be on one side, and on the 
other side those who sympathize with Americans.'' 




A CUBAN WATCHING THE MOVEMENT 
OK THE SPANISH ARMY. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 321 

A TELEGRAM FROM GENERAL MAGEO. 

In Camp in Cuzco Hills, 
Pinar Del Rio Province, Cuba, April 14, 1896. 
W. R. Hearst, Journal, New York: 

Responding to the request of your correspondent, I 
have to say that I consider the battle of last Saturday, 
when my troops put to flight the Alfonso XIII Bat- 
talion, the most important accomplishment of the 
Cuban army during the war, because it taught the men 
confidence in themselves, and also because it gave the 
Spanish to understand that they have no contemptible 
foe to deal with. The rout of that battalion will make 
cowards of the common Spanish soldiers who may be 
sent to fight us in the future. Since the battle, my sol- 
diers have been filled with desire to meet the men on 
the trocha in combat. I can hardly restrain them, and 
I feel satisfied that if it was my policy to attack the 
trocha at this time the Spanish army would be cut to 
pieces. 

Nothing that I could say about the kindness of the 
American papers, especially the Journal, in the cause 
of Cuban liberty could adequately express the grati- 
tude that fills my heart and the heart of every true 
Cuban. You have armed the weak and made us strong 
to go on to victory. Freedom for Cuba was nevei 
closer to realization than it is now. Your correspond- 
ent informs me that doubts have been cast upon the 



322 STORY OF si' [IX AND CUBA. 

victory at Pinar del Rio. Let me assure the Ameri- 
cans that we struck that city a heavy blow, putting the 
troops to flight, burning many houses, and capturing 
enough arms to place weapons in the hands of many 
of my men who had none before. 

(Signed) ANTONIO MACEO. 

The above dispatch was sent from Havana to Key 
West for transmission to the Journal, the censorship 
preventing it from being sent direct from the Cuban 
capital. 

THE SITUATION IN CUBA.* 

It was not in\ intention to write about Cuba when, 
a tew weeks ago, 1 left New York on a trip to that un- 
fortunate and beautiful island. Mail 1 gone there for 
that purpose, as a newspaper correspondent, it is cer- 
tain that I would not have seen what I have been for- 
tunate enough to see. The business which took me to 
( uba was important enough to decide the captain-gen- 
eral to give me a "salvo conducto," or passport, allow- 
ing me to travel inland, to pass the Spanish lines, and 
to go to Mercedes de Carrillo, a sugar plantation near 
Colon, in the heart of the province of Matanzas, where 
most of the fighting was taking place at the time. Go- 
mez was near there, and Maceo was fighting his way 
back to Havana from the place at which he had met 



*From Leslie's Weekly. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 323 

Gomez. I had, indeed, no desire of writing about 
Cuba, or the conditions of the struggle now in prog- 
ress, for the reason that I have many warm friends in 
Spain, in and out of official circles, that I have only the 
most delightful personal recollections of my sojourn 
there, and therefore my sympathies were with the 
Spaniards. I felt that writing in their favor would 
probably displease all my friends, and I had decided 
not to write a line. But what I saw and heard has 
obliged me to change my mind both as to the state of 
things in Cuba and to my decision of not expressing my 
opinion. My admiration for Spain has received a se- 
rious blow, and 1 must honestly confess that all my 
sympathy is now with the Cubans. Spain 1 can only 
pity — pity for the hopeless and ruinous fight she is 
making. Most of the reports sent from Havana are 
so absolutely false that I feel they must be denied. The 
world must know and must be told that it is not true 
that Spain is having the best of it — not true that the 
Spaniards are eager to fight ; not true that the Spanish 
columns are' always victorious and that their losses are 
insignificant; not true that the best people of Cuba are 
against the insurgents; not true that cruelties tako 
place no more. The contrary is the truth. It is an ab- 
solute fact that nine-tenths of the country is against 
Spain; that the Spanish soldiers are discouraged, de- 
moralized, and afraid of the Cubans, who still hold the 
whole country with the exception of the cities, and 



^4 STUKY OF sl'Al.\ AND VI HA. 

who are gaining ground every day. All this 1 can and 
will prove in the account of my trip to Cuba, ex- 
pressly written at the request of Leslie's Weekly. 

I do not wonder so many Americans used to go to 
Cuba before the war broke out. From Xew York to 
1 lavana via Florida it is only a short trip of three da) s, 
and a more delightful trip does not exist. Tampa 
Bay, where the New York express trains meet the 
steamer, is reached in a day and a half. Thirty-six 
hours after leaving Tampa, at 6 o'clock in the morning. 
our steamer, the ( Mivctte, arrived at the entrance of 
the harbor of Havana. It was a beautiful and clear 
day, and from the deck of the steamer 1 had been 
eagerly watching the small white point in the horizon 
which, increasing in size every minute, had developed 
little by little into a great mass of buildings — the city 
of Havana. On our left, upon a high hill, was the old 
and imposing Morro Castle, with its big, modern guns, 
overlooking the sea. The general effect of its Span- 
ish-Moorish architecture reminded me of many a Span- 
ish fortress, and especially of the fortifications of To- 
ledo. A strange feeling came over me as I thought 
of all the mysteries which are buried behind these 
thick, dirty walls of great, big stones — when I thought 
of the hundreds who have been tortured and who have 
died there, and of the hundreds who, alas! are there 
now, waiting for their turn to be sent brutally intQ 
another world. But, turning from the sadly suggestive 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA 32c 

fortress, on the other side of the harbor was- Havana, 
white and picturesque, with its large palaces, buildings 
and factories, above which many tall palm trees were 
slowly balancing their heavy heads in a light and warm 
breeze. Life on one side, I thought, and death on the 
other! 

I had been warned that I would meet with a great 
many difficulties before landing, and therefore great 
was my surprise when I found out that everything 
went as smoothly as possible. After the officials who 
came on board had ascertained that my passport was 
en regie, 1 was allowed to go ashore without the slight- 
est trouble, and I immediately drove to the hotel. Had 
I not known that there was war in Cuba I certainly 
would not have guessed it from the appearance of the 
city. Not a soldier was to be seen in the narrow 
streets, bordered by Spanish-Moorish houses. Every- 
thing was as quiet as possible, it did not take very 
long to find out the state of things. I had letters of 
introduction for the most influential men in Havana, 
Matanzas and Colon, and had no difficulty in ascer- 
taining from them that nine-tenths of the best people 
of Cuba are in favor of the insurgents. With a very 
few exceptions, the only persons in favor of Spain are 
the Spanish themselves. If all the Cubans who sym- 
pathize with the insurrectionists should join the rebel 
forces, Gomez would have an army of 500,000 men. 
The great majority of the Cubans who would like to 



326 8T0R1 OF SP \ I \ LA'D CI BA. 

fight arc obliged to staj at home, Eor they have no 
arms and no ammunition. It is also natural that 
bankers, large business men. prominent lawyers and 
railroad men cannot give up their business to go fight 
ing, and can do more by remaining at the head of their 
business and furnishing the Cuban party with funds 
than they would by shouldering a musket. 

These men are more than careful about expressing 
their opinion, knowing that any word said against 
Spain, or in favor of the insurgents, means either 
death or confinement in Morro Castle, which is per- 
haps worse. ( >ne of the best-known and most dis- 
tinguished citizens of 1 lavana said to me. one evening: 
"My sugar estate worth $500,000. has just been 
burned by a force of insurgents. They were com- 
manded h\ one of my hot friends. They did right, 
and 1 am glad of it. It is necessary, in order to win 
from Spain, to cut off from her all sources of revenue. 
The house in which 1 am receiving you is worth $50,- 
OOO. I have two more in the city, and would gladly 
see the three of them burned to the ground if it can 
help the cause. In short, every Cuban in the island 
would rather be ruined and killed than to see am 
longer the hated Hag of Spain waving over this coun- 
try." These feelings every Cuban I met expressed in 
the same w a\ . 

General Weyler's proclamation, issued upon his ar- 
rival, prohibited any p< r on from passing the Spanish 




A CUBAN WINDOW 



8T0R7 OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 329 

Knes under penalty of being arrested should it happen 
in the day-time, or shot without warning at night. Not 
a single pass has been issued to war correspondents, 
and everyone will remember the terrible experiences, 
in Morro Castle, of the correspondent of the New York 
Journal, who had ventured near the Spanish lines. It 
will be readily understood from this that all the newa 
sent to the New York press is either the official news 
given away by the captain-general's government, or 
reports brought by natives coming from the country. 

Shortly after my arrival in Havana, Captain-General 
Weyler, of whom I shall write later on, kindly gave me 
a salvo conducto, or permit, allowing me to pass the 
Spanish lines, to travel inland, and to proceed to the 
plantation Mercedes de Carrillo, situated near Colon. 
We had then great difficulties in finding a guide will- 
ing to accompany me. The Spanish ones absolutely 
refused for fear of being caught and hanged by the 
rebels, while the Cubans could not possibly be induced 
to leave the city, being fearful that they would be shot 
by the Spaniards. At last, a Mr. Garcia, a Cuban, who 
has lived in New York for several years, consented "to 
take his life in his hands, 1 ' as he put it, and to accom- 
pany me. 

We left Havana at 6 o'clock in the morning for Ma- 
tanzas, where we had to change trains. The station 
was strongly guarded by troops. The train was made 
up of an engine, two armored cars full of soldiers, a 



330 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

third, a second and a first-class car. In addition to 
this, another engine went flying 200 yards ahead of us 
to see whether the line was clear. To the surprise of 
all, the train was not fired upon, and we reached Ma- 
tanzas without much trouble, though we were several 
hours behind time, having been stopped again and 
again for some unknown causes. All along the line 
the stations have been burned to the ground ; the cane- 
fields, as far as the eye could see, had also been burned ; 
the many sugar factories were desolated and silent, 
and every few yards we could see the iron wheels of 
the hundreds of cars destroyed by the insurgents — 
all this in the province of Havana, the stronghold of 
Spain. 

At Matanzas, the following day, I learned that there 
would be no train that day for Colon, the insurgen 1 , 
having appeared in great force everywhere. I was 
told by the railroad officials that should they be al- 
lowed by the government to run passenger trains, the 
insurgents would never interfere with those. But the 
government wishes the trains to be protected by ar- 
mored cars full of soldiers. These the insurgents will 
not allow to pass when they can stop them, and it is for 
this reason that nearly every train is attacked. 

I decided whik- in Matanzas to go out of the city, 
past the Spanish lines if possible, to the famous Caves 
of Bellamar, which extend under the sea for miles. The 
end has never been reached yet, and some people be- 



STORT OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 331 

lieve they may go clear across the Atlantic. The en- 
trance to these caves is about three miles from Matan- 
zas, and a mile and a half from the line of Spanish 
forts which surrounds the city. There we were stopped 
by the sentries, and in spite of my salvo conducto I had 
some difficulty before being allowed to pass. At the 
caves the proprietor told me that bands of from twenty- 
five to 300 insurgents come every night to find shelter 
in his buildings. "Why!" I exclaimed, "here, a mile 
from the Spanish forts?" "Yes, senor," "And you 
mean to say," I inquired, "that these Spaniards never 
come out to fight them?" "No; never." 

A short time ago 500 Spaniards went reconnoitring 
out of Matanzas city. When four miles away they 
were told that a force of insurgents was ahead. The 
officers immediately consulted, and — 250 men to the 
left, . 250 to the right — they went back to Matan- 
zas! That very night I spent in Matanzas, 1000 men 
were sent out of the city. On a hill, just above it, near 
the gates of the city, they were attacked by the insur- 
gents and a large number of these men were killed, 
though it was never officially reported. 

The following morning, at 6 o'clock, a train similar 
to the one I had taken from Havana was sent out of 
Matanzas to Colon. Seven times was that train 
stopped and three times fired upon, until we reached 
a village occupied by 1200 soldiers and surrounded by 
forts. There we heard that we could eo no further. 



332 STOHY OF SPAIN AXD CUBA. 

for a bridge situate d a quarter of a mile from this place 
had just been burned by the insurgents! just think 
of it — only 400 yards from the 1200 Spanish soldiers! 
At last the bridge was repaired, and after many more 
stops and more firing we reached Mercedes de Carrillo. 
Gomez had been there with 4000 men only three days 
before. When he appeared, the soldiers who were 
guarding the forts which have been built around the 
estate disappeared. But two days after Gomez's de-< 
parture they came back, in hot pursuit of the Cuban 
leader, and bravely shooting at everything in sight. 
The day before my arrival (to show that they fear no- 
thing) they shot down, without the slightest reason or 
provocation, four of the best servants of the household. 
One of them was the brother of the housekeeper, and, 
with tears in her eyes, the poor woman told me the 
story Shorth afterward, the Spanish lieutenant who 
had charge of the forces on the estate appeared, half- 
drunk, and exclaimed: "I hear altogether too much 
talking concerning the four blaguards we shot. If 
you don't stop I shall take a few more and put them 
against the wall!" Brave soldier! 

A. B. DE GUERVILLE. 

WALTER GRANT DYGERT. 

The New York Journal has taken great interest in 
the case of Walter Grant Dvgert. Mr. Fred. W. Law- 



STORY OF SI' A IN AND CUBA. 333 

rence, a correspondent for this paper, sends a very in- 
teresting letter to the Journal, relating his experience 
in behalf of Mr. Dygert: 

Havana, April 15. 

The Journal is a more potent influence with the 
Spanish authorities in Cuba than the United States 
government. 

As the representative of the paper, 1 have succeeded 
in breaking the "incommunicado" rule, a feat nevei 
before accomplished by a newspaper man, and some- 
thing that Ramon Williams, the United States consul- 
general, has been trying in vain to do for the past sev- 
eral weeks. And the trick is very simple, if you only 
know how to go about it. 

I went down to Guines last Monday, determined to 
see Walter Grant Dygert, the American who is con- 
fined there "incommunicado," if he was alive, and if 
he was dead to satisfy the public interest on that point. 

I begged the alcalde of the town to let me see the 
prisoner, but he was almost paralyzed at the audacity 
of anyone presuming to ask for an interview with an 
"incommunicado" man. Various other awe-inspiring 
officials looked as though they thought I was a lunatic 
who ought to be in a straightjacket. 

The forlorn hope was the military judge of the town. 
This gentleman, whose name and title is Capitan De 
Infanteria ]x\ez Instructor De Guines, Don Aureliano 



334 .STORY OF SPAIN AXD CUBA. 

Riospios De Guzman, I found as he was about to sit 
down to his breakfast in the restaurant. 



LAID SIEGE TO THE CAPITAN'S STOMACH. 

In two minutes the breakfast he had ordered was re- 
galing the palatr of the house dog. and my interpreter 
was ordering such a breakfast for three as that hostelry 
had never served before. We laid siege to the capi- 
tals stomach and won him. 

At first, he was enveloped in arctic frigidity, but 
under the mellow influence of the rare wines that the 
interpreter scoured the town for, the old chap thawed 
out, and when the jewel of an interpreter discovered 
that he was a descendant of one of the capitan's college 
chums, our guest rose up and embraced us as brothers. 

Before that breakfast was finished, the capitan had 
promised that Dygert should be "communicado" to 
us, and had sworn himself the firm friend of all Am- 
ericans until the end of time. 

The rest is a simple story. We went to the prison 
with the capitan. and Dygert was brought into the 
office, where I talked with him as long as I cared to. 
Not only that, but our friend allowed us to bring in a 
photographer to take the prisoner's picture. 

At the same time, the note refusing Consul-General 
William permission to see Dygert was reposing in the 
consulate cafe. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 337 

DYGBRT'S DEEP GRATITUDE. 

Poor Dygert! His eyes filled with tears when I 
clasped his hand and spoke kindly to him in his own 
language. It was the first time in many weeks that he 
had seen a friendly face. I had to wait until he had 
gulped down the choking feeling in his throat before 
engaging him in conversation. 

"So," said the prisoner, "you represent the Journal, 
do you? A newspaper man is the first of my country- 
men to come to me. Where is our consul? 1 wrote 
to him, and received only a cold reply. Why has he 
not tried to send somebody to me?" 

I told Dygert that the consul was a very busy man, 
and 1 hope the Recording Angel will not lay that up 
against me. Then I asked him how a man incommu- 
nicado could send anything, even to the consul of his 
country. Dygert would not tell me, but the affection- 
ate way he looked at our friend, the capitan, solved the 
problem to my satisfaction. 

"Is there anything being done for me? Do my 
friends in America know of my imprisonment? In 
the name of God, tell me how much longer I must re- 
main in this accursed hole!" 

I told him of the fight the Journal had made for him ; 
of the efforts of Representative Hopkins and Senator 
Cullnm ; of how the State Department had been aroused 



33S STORY Of &FA1A .IAD CUBA. 

from lethargy, and of how even Williams had been 
spurred to action, though his efforts amounted to no- 
thing. 

Again the tears trickled down Dygert's cheeks. He 
knelt down, closed his eyes and moved his lips prayer- 
fully. 

HIS FAITH IN GOD NEVER FAILED. 

"You mustn't mind my weakness," he said, when he 
arose. "I was brought up a Christian, and somehow, 
even in my darkest hours of despair, when I was ready 
to believe that man had gone back on me forever, my 
faith in God never failed. I thought of all the good 
old minister back in Illinois had told me, and my mo- 
ther's teaching came to my mind constantly. I 
thought God was punishing me for some sin 1 had 
committed, and I bowed in resignation to His will." 

I asked him how Americans were treated in Spanish 
prisons. Again his eyes rested affectionately on the 
capitan. 

"If it had not been for him," said Dvgert, "the tor- 
ture would have been more than I could bear. That 
man wears a Spanish uniform, but he has a heart as 
tender as a woman's. He does everything he can to 
make the men in here forget they are in prison. But, 
good as he is to them, he cannot make them forget" 
their misery. 



STORY OF SPAIN AM) CUBA. 339 

"You don't know what it is to be herded into a cell 
nine feet long and twelve feet wide, with twenty-four 
other human beings, who never step outside except to 
go to their death by the garrote. You may imagine 
the condition that finally comes to the cell, and what 
a hell it is to a man of refinement, such as myself. 

PRAYED FOR EXECUTION. 

"When the guards have come to take prisoners to 
be executed, I have at times prayed God to let the au- 
thorities pronounce sentence of death upon me, so that 
my turn might come next. That was wicked, I know, 
but then living under such conditions was so terrible 
and I fully expected that 1 was to die before long. I 
cannot imagine why they spared me, when every day 
I saw men whom I believe were as innocent as myself 
going to their death. 

"Look at my image in that mirror! I do not recog- 
nize myself. See my gray hair; look at these lines on 
my face, and notice how shrunken my body is. When 
! came into this prison 1 looked the robust young 
man I was. My frame filled these clothes. Now there 
is room for two Walter Dygerts in this coat. I did 
not even have anybody to talk with, for nobody here 
speaks English, and T understand no Spanish. 

"I have read the 'Count of Monte Cristo,' and I can 
realize now, though I never did before, what a truthfu 1 



34U STORY OF SPAM AND CUBA. 

imagination Dumas had to describe so graphically the 
sufferings of Edmond Dantes. 

"Can you tell me now if they are going to let me 
out?" 

I told Dygert that Marquis De Palmerola had prom- 
ised me that he should be free as soon as the formali- 
ties could be arranged. 

Again Dygert fell on his knees and prayed. 

A.N ANGEL CF MERCY. 

"You don't know what an angel of mercy you have 
been to me, my friend," he said. 

As I turned to go, Dygert knelt at my feet, and, 
seizing my hand, covered it with kisses, as the tears, 
streamed down his face. I tried to prevent him doing 
so. but he was too quick for me. At last, 1 jerked my 
hand from his grasp, and hurried out of the prison for 
fear 1 should make a fool of myself; but when I saw 
that old war-horse of a capitan using his handkerchief 
to wipe perspiration and something else from his face, 
I felt ashamed no longer. 

Today T am sorry I went to the prison, for Dygert 
has not been released, and I know how bitter the dis- 
appointment has been to him, even though I sent him 
word that the day would not be far distant. 

I asked Marquis Palmerola why the government 
had not kept its word. His reply was that the civil 



STORY OF SPAIN A\D CUBA. 341 

authorities were satisfied of Dygert's innocence, and 
so was the military branch, but that there were certain 
forms that must be observed before the order of release 
could issue. It was the fault of the Spanish judicial 
methods, he said, but that even their ways would gain 
speed under the spurring the authorities had given 
them. 

DYGERT REFUSED TO SIGN. 

Dygert had told me of a paper written in Spanish 
that he had been asked to sign, and refused. I though 
it might be a waiver for all claims of indemnity on ac- 
count of his arrest, and that he was being kept in jail 
to compel him to sign it. Palmerola told me that my 
guess was incorrect, but that he himself did not know 
what the contents of the document were. 

I don't think the Marquis is trying to fool me, even 
though diplomats are not above such tricks, for he has 
given the consul-general the same assurances he gave 
me. 

If, however, Dygert is not shortly released, I shall 
cable you to that effect, if the censoi will let me send 
the message, and you must commence the fight with 
redoubled vigor, for if ever an innocent man wa9 
worthy of help, that man is Dygert. 

Pressure from the State Department is all that is 
necessary, but it is a great pity that a vigorous man is 



342 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

not here to carry out the orders of Mr. Olney, instead 
of well-meaning, but very easy-going and complacent 
Mr. Williams. 

ALBERTO JOSE DIAZ. 

Alberto Jose Diaz, the Baptist missionary now in 
Morro Castle, Havana, is in a Spanish prison for the 
third time. He was once an officer among the Cuban 
revolutionists, directing his men to kill, but lately he 
led the twenty-odd Baptist missionaries, directing them 
to save. 

Diaz is a man of large physique and magnetic per- 
sonality. At the Convention of the Southern Baptist 
Church in Washington in 1895 he was introduced just 
when the body was about to adjourn. Those present 
were fatigued from a week's day and night sessions. 
Diaz arose and spoke of Cuba. The restless audience 
sat spellbound, though it was 1 1 o'clock at night. He 
brought tears to the eyes of many, and when he had 
finished, a wave of applause swept over the assemblage 
that sounded like falling walls. 

He lectured in New York and Boston on Cuba a few 
vears ago, and carried back $300 for his missions, to be 
promptly arrested as a suspect. 

OF A PRODIGIOUS FAMILY. 

Diaz is the eldest of twentv-odd children, and first 




INSUUGENT'H OAVB. 



STORY OF sl'M.\ AND CUBA. 345 

saw the light near Havana forty-four years ago. His 
father was an apothecary, and Diaz graduated from 
the University of Havana, then studied medicine, and 
became a practicing physician in Havana. He has 
said his father paid $100,000 for his education. 

When the last rebellion broke out in Cuba, Diaz 
joined the rebels and was made a captain of cavalry. 
One day he and a companion were sent ahead to find 
a camping ground. Spanish sentinels spied them. The 
two men were chased out on a point of land that made 
into the sea, and it seemed certain death by drowning 
or bullets. As night came down, Diaz and his com- 
panion dashed into a thicket, dismounted and lashed 
their horses to make them run while they escaped, 
with the hope the Spaniards would pursue the riderless 
beasts in the dark. But the Spanish troops did not 
take the bait. Then the two rebels obtained a log and 
pushed out on the water, intending to drift to another 
part of the shore. The current carried them out to 
sea, and sunrise found them out of sight of land. 

PENNILESS IN NEW YORK. 

They drifted in the scorching sun for days, with 
nothing to eat or drink. Diaz's companion became 
unconscious, fell off and was drowned. Diaz also be- 
came unconscious, in which condition he was found 
when a vessel picked him up. The craft was bound to 



346 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

New York, and Diaz stepped ashore here a penniless 
stranger. 

He became a reader of newspapers to the men in a 
cigar factory. Soon he was confined to a boarding 
house in Brooklyn with pneumonia. Miss Alice 
Tucker, a Christian worker, living in the house, went 
to his bedside and prayed, and left a New Testament. 
Diaz read it, and it led to his conversion. 

The rebellion in Cuba being over, Diaz was sent to 
the island as a colporteur by the Gethsemane Baptist 
Church, Willoughby avenue, Brooklyn. When he 
reached Havana, he resumed his profession. He 
healed both body and soul, and was the first man to 
successfully carry Protestantism into the Catholic 
island. 

HIS BIBLES IN JAIL. 

He went out of Havana one day on a railroad with 
two boxes of Bibles. He had been a rebel, and the 
police were watching him. They thought of dynamite, 
and he was arrested. He was put in one cell and the 
Bibles in another. He told the jail officials that he 
was a naturalized citizen of the United States, and sent 
word to the American consul. When Sunday came, 
Diaz wanted to preach to the prisoners, but the jailer 
refused permission. Undaunted, he sang, prayed 
aloud, selected a text and preached so that all could 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 347 

hear. In a week, the American consul succeeded in 
getting him released. There was a great demand for 
the Bibles that had been in jail, and he quickly sold the 
lot. Later, he converted the mayor who had ordered 
his arrest, the jailer and seventy other persons in the 
town. 

With two of his missionary assistants, Godinez and 
Herrara, he went to his birthplace in Guanabacoa, in 
June, 1890, to hold meetings. Before the meeting was 
over, the three had been arrested and taken before the 
mayor, charged with holding a meeting without noti- 
fying the Spanish authorities, as the law requires. They 
went to jail. A mob of sympathizers followed and de- 
manded their release. Diaz was obliged to appear on 
the jail balcony and make a speech to quiet them. 
Some hours afterward the notice of the meeting was 
found in the mayor's office, but he was not released un- 
til Secretary Blaine interposed. 

HIS GREAT WORK. 

During the first fifteen months after his church was 
organized, he baptized 300 persons. The first person 
to enter his church was his mother, formerly a devout 
Catholic. When he baptized her, he was so overcome 
that he forgot the usual ceremony, and could only say, 
"Lord Jesus, this is my mother." After the church 



348 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

had been organized two years, he had baptized hoc 
persons out of 8000 who offered themselves. 

At last reports he had twenty-five assisting clergy, 
thirty churches and stations, day schools in which 700 
pupils were being instructed, 25,000 Sunday-school 
scholars, industrial schools and three cemeteries. The 
church used by him in Havana cost the Southern Bap- 
tists $65,000. It was formerly a theatre, and seats 3000 
persons. 



1 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 351 



CHAPTER XIII. 



SPANISH ATROCITIES. 



The butchery of the peaceful inhabitants of Guatao 
still remains unavenged, and there is no likelihood 
that this small-sized Armenian incident will meet with 
justice. The living are too terrified to bear testimony 
against the Spaniards. 

On Colonel Marquez de Corvera will eternally rest 
the honor of having entered a town and given his sol- 
diers the orders to shoot everyone, no matter who they 
were. As a result, the women and children, the sick 
and the dying, were butchered, with ball in some cases 
and with cold, biting, glittering steel in others. 

This has happened again at Lugane, San Jose, Cor- 
ral Falso and Jesus del Monte. In Guatao alone I 
am informed by reliable sources that the number of 
killed, including men and children, were forty-seven 
persons. 

On the plantation Jiquiabo, the property of Don 
Carlos Pedroso. in Jaruco township, a detachment of 
Spanish troops assaulted a laborer's shanty, and after 
tying Eladio Pedroso, they shot his wife to death, one 



352 STORY OF SPAIA AND CUBA. 

of the bullets striking her little child, which was in her 
arms, and breaking- her arms. 

In the plantation of La Serafina of Don Felipe Cruz, 
Sergeant Altamirano shot an aged laborer named Car- 
los Sanchez, because he refused to act as guide for the 
Spanish column. 

In the same village, on the "Azacarte'' plantation, 
the soldiers on duty there shot one Luis Lugo without 
provocation. 

In the township of Jaruco, on the plantation of Mo- 
rales, the troops of Colonel Tort, commanding the 
Rural Guards, arrested four men and one woman, on 
the charge of being insurgent sympathizers, and took 
them to the armory, where the men were beaten and 
subsequently killed, as also was the woman, who re- 
fused to admit that she was in connection with the 
rebel forces. The woman, named Margarita Pedro- 
so, was soon to become a mother. 

In the village of San Antonio de los Banos, a man 
named Bonito Lozada, suspected of insurgent tenden- 
cies, was shot to death by the soldiers. 

In the village of San Matias, near Jaruco, the forces 
of Colonel Tejerizo violated the women of the family 
of Jose Calabuche. 

On the plantation of Calixto, of Juanito Hernandez, 
near Santonio de Las Vegas, Captain Manuel Ruiz 
Adame, of the Regiment of Isabel the Catholic, shot 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 353 

to death an inoffensive imbecile who annoyed the 
troops. 

Troops under command of General Ecuague entered 
the towns of Limonar and Lumidero, boasting that 
they had sent thirteen rebel sympathizers to meet their 
fate, and showing their bloody arms as proofs of their 
butchery. 

Lieutenant Corral Y Pedroso, of a cavalry battalion, 
made the statement in the presence of various persons 
that he had struck clown with his sword two negroes, 
and further added than when he left for the field he 
killed every Cuban he could get hold of on the simplest 
charge, as every Cuban was an insurgent at heart, and 
that General Weyler had given instructions to the 
commanders of the operating columns to dispose of 
as many insurgent sympathizers as possible, and that 
he would stop any talk and would stand between the 
officers and the public, but that the insurgents must 
be put an end to at all hazards. 

To further appreciate the condition of this country, 
I will relate what I heard in the city of Trinidad while 
there a few days ago. The Rev. Father Cuervo y 
Canonigo said: 

"I believe that all the Cubans possible should be 
killed off, and clear the country, and hi that manner 
make room for families which would be brought over 
from Spain to Cuba. The negroes and mulattoes 
should all be killed off silently and without exciting 



354 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

any comment, and their property confiscated. There- 
fore, when we would bring families over from Spain 
and colonize the island, we would give them this con- 
fiscated property, and they would make a good start in 
life. The Cubans who send their children to the United 
States to be educated should be taken hold of by the 
police and quietly placed where they would do the 
least harm, because those Americans have republican 
ideas, which are the real cause of the present desire 
of the Cubans to revolt. The Yankees are the on I; 
people who sympathize with the Cubans, and they arj 
responsible for this war." 

While at Trinidad I paid a visit to an insurgent 
camp, commanded by one of their leaders, I believe by 
one Lacret, and found that the wives and daughters of 
a great many of the insurgents were with them. 

These women are not camp women, but some of the 
ladies who months ago were shining social lights of the 
cities of Matanzas, Cardenas, Cienfuegos, Santiago. 
Camaguey and Havana. The camps were orderly, 
well established and disciplined. 

HORRORS OF THE GARROTE. 

Havana, March 31. 
A startling exhibition of bungling in the exhibition 
by the garrote of five Cuban prisoners took place today. 
The men were classed as "murderers, violators and in- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 357 

cendiaries," belonging to Cayajabo, and were recently 
sentenced to be garroted. 

At 7 o'clock this morning a strong force of infantry 
was drawn np in the form of a square, where the garrote 
had been erected. The instrument of execution, a 
chair with a post behind it, an iron collar and screws 
behind it, which, when turned, strangles or breaks the 
necks of the victim, was set up by the famous execu- 
tioner, Valentine Ruiz, who, for some reason not fully 
explained, acted upon this occasion as the assistant to 
his own assistant, instead of as the principal execu- 
tioner. 

At the hour the troops were drawn up, the five pris- 
oners were still in their dungeons receiving the minis- 
trations of the priests. One man confessed himself to 
be guilty of the crimes charged against him, and as- 
serted that his companions were innocent. The lat- 
ter stoutly maintained their innocence to the last, 
prayed that their deaths might be avenged upon those 
who had falsely sent them to the scaffold, and then the 
whole party was escorted inside the square formed by 
the soldiers. 

FIRST VICTIM. 

The man selected as the first victim of the strangling 
machine quietly and coolly mounted the steps leading 
to the death chair, took his seat in an unconcerned 



358 STORY OF SPA1S A.YL» CUBA. 

manner, and actually seemed to smile as the cap was 
placed over his head after the iron collar had been ad- 
justed. The man acting as executioner then twisted 
the lever or screw handle controlling- the garrote, but 
he was evidently terribly nervous, and this rendered 
him so weak that his hands slipped repeatedly from the 
lever. There were horrible, smothering, choking cries 
from the scaffold, and it was only after a long period of 
agony for the condemned, and almost torture for the 
.spectators, that the Cuban was pronounced dead. 

The executioners, priests, soldiers and prison offi- 
cials present turned their heads away in horror and be- 
came deadly pale as the stifled sounds came from the 
sufferer. lint this was only a beginning of the terrible 
performance. 

The second victim was brought to the front and led 
up the steps to the scaffold by the priests and assistant 
executioner. Upon reaching the platform, the unfor- 
tunate man made an effort to say something to the 
people surrounding him, but the executioner's hand 
was placed over his mouth, he was hastily bundled into 
the deadly chair, and in another moment the iron collar 
was around his neck, the cap was over his face, and the 
first turns of the lever had been given. If the actual 
executioner was nervous upon the occasion of the first 
killing, he was ten times more so upon this occasion. 
He fumbled and fumed, alternately turning to a death- 
like whiteness and flushing crimson with excitement. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 359 

The result was slow, fearful strangulation and another 
horrible experience for the spectators. 

RJJIZ CALLED UPON. 

By this time, the prison officials, the priests and offi- 
cers in command of the troops had endured enough, 
and called upon the executioner to get down from the 
scaffold and let the German take his place. There- 
upon the acting executioner feverishly called upon the 
executioner-in-chief, Valentine Ruiz, who, from long 
experience, is looked upon as being an expert in his 
line, to come and help him out of his difficulty. 

Ruiz, however, was almost as nervous and excited as 
his assistant, and fumbled badly as he handled the third 
Cuban. But Ruiz succeeded in accomplishing the 
execution in shorter time and with less horror than his 
assistant, which was a great relief to everybody. 

The fourth Cuban was then turned over to Ruiz for 
strangulation, but by this time Ruiz was shaking all 
over, and he was much slower and considerably clum- 
sier in sending the unhappy man out of the world, so 
much so, that there was renewed murmuring at the 
official incapacity, and Ruiz stumbled away from 
the death post, insisting, in choking tones, that his as- 
sistant must finish the day's work. 

Consequently, the assistant executioner again tried 
his hand at the terrible screw, and was as unlucky as 



3G0 tfTORY OF SPAIZ AND CUBA. 

before, for there was another scene of horror, which 
nearly caused strong men to faint before the fifth Cu- 
ban's life was pronounced extinct. And then the 
bodies were carted away, the shame-faced executioners 
gathered up their sickening framework and its acces- 
sories, the priests, prison and other officials hurried 
away, the troops were marched back to their quarters, 
and another chapter had been added to the black his- 
tory of Cuba. 

THE DELGADO Ol TRAGE. 

Cincinnati, ( )hio, April 21. 

Special correspondence from Mrs. Woodward, dated 
Havana, April 15, contains an interview with Dr. Jose 
Manuel Delgado, the American citizen who was shot 
and hacked and left for dead by Spanish troops on 
March 4, when they raided the plantation of Dolores in 
Mainoa. 

Delgado said he was an American neutral, attending 
to his farm. When captured, he presented his pass- 
ports as an American citizen. General Melguiso an- 
swered by striking him three times with his sword. 
Delgado and his seven plowmen were tied together 
with a rope and placed in line. A detail of Spanish 
troops fired at them by command. Maceo that day 
had fired Dolores plantation and retired before the 
Spanish troops. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 363 

A Spanish captain came to Delgado's house with 
twenty men, told the doctor and his seven field hands 
to follow. Delgado showed his passport as an Ameri- 
can ; so did his men. The captain said he had nothing 
to do with the matter; he was obeying orders; but it 
was his opinion that the worst thing they could do 
would be to show that they were Americans. Arriv- 
ing at General Melguiso's headquarters, Delgado said 
they were neutrals, and then showed their passports. 
Melguiso became furious. It was then he struck Del- 
gado with his machete, exclaiming: 

"I will shoot you just as I would the consul-general 
if he were here!" 

There were eight of them taken out and tied to- 
gether with a rope and placed against a stone wall. The 
order was to cut the prisoners down with machetes. In 
attempting this the rope broke and the soldiers were 
ordered to fire. With the first volley, Delgado fell 
forward, feigning death. The second volley sent a bul- 
let into his thigh. All the others except one were 
killed. 

The doctor was left for dead, and lost consciousness. 
When he recovered, he found himself in his dwelling. 
There his old father took care of him. Shortly after- 
ward, Spanish soldiers came searching for the two that 
had escaped. Delgado's father hid him in a canefield, 
exposed to the inclement weather. Meantime the old 
father communicated with Consul-General Williams, 



3U4 8T0RI OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

and obtained a safe-conduct to Havana, where Delgado 
now lies under protection of the United States. 

MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN RUTHLESSLY BUTCHERED 
BY FEDERAL SOLDIERS. 

New ( Means, La., April 3. 

The Picayune's special Havana letter, dated March 
27, gives this summary of events, personally investi- 
gated by the writer, which is declared to be accurate in 
every respect : 

In Bainoo, Dr. Yodal Sotolongo made an operation 
on a poor old man. and when he was convalescent he 
was one night arrested and taken to the armory of the 
guardia civil, where they lashed him all over the body, 
and in spite of his cries they laughed and took him on 
the outside of the town, where they compelled him to 
make a grave, where they buried him after he died from 
the ill-treatment he had received. 

On the plantation Salvador, of the Count de Rarreto, 
Lieutenant Betancourt, a Cuban by birth, belonging 
to the troops of General Aldecoa, shot to death, after 
hacking him with his machete, a defenseless colored 
resident who was on his way to join his family. By 
the first machete blow, he lost an arm, and by the sec- 
ond his head. 

In the city of Batabano, the chief of police and other 
local authorities arrested three individuals and took 



STONY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 365 

them on the outskirts of the town, where they were 
butchered and left dead on the roadside, the murderers 
bringing the report to the city that the insurgents had 
killed the men. 

The men in the village of San Felipe, soldiers under 
command of Colonel Galbis and Colonel Linares, cap- 
tured three inoffensive laborers and hacked them to 
pieces amid the laughter of the troops, who shouted 
that they could not serve the insurgents any more. 

THREE CUBANS EXECUTED. 

Havana, April 17. 

Three prisoners of war, Gregorio Borges, Estaban 
Hernandez and Jose Baccallao, were executed publicly 
this morning at the Cabanas fortress. They belonged 
to the insurgent band commanded by Dr. Gruno 
Sayres, and were captured by the soldiers of the Ara- 
piles battalion during the attack made by the enemy 
on Managua, this province, and the burning of prop- 
erty in that vicinity. 

Baccallao smoked a cigar during his last moments, 
and calmly threw it away as he knelt with his face to 
the wall and his back towards the firing squad. Borges 
knelt with his hands in his pockets, and coolly turned 
his head towards the soldiers who were to shoot him. 
Hernandez attentively watched the shadows of the sol- 
diers on the wall in front of him. 



366 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

When all was ready, the officer in command of the 
squad lifted his sword, the rifles were aimed ; there was 
another movement of the sword, the report of the vol- 
ley echoed from the fortress walls. Borges was killed 
outright, but Hernandez and Baccallao writhed on 
the ground after the shooting, and it was found neces- 
sary to finish Hernandez with one mercy shot. Two 
mercy shots were necessary to send Baccallao to his 
account. 

When the execution was over, and the bodies had 
been carted away, the crowds on the fortress heights 
silently wandered their way to more congenial scenes, 
and only three pools of dark blood remained to mark 
fhe place where three more of the insurgent army had 
fallen. 



UTURY OF SPA1S AND CUBA. 369 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE RIGHT OF CUBANS TO RECOGNITION AS BEL- 
LIGERENTS ANT) TO INDEPENDENCE. 

By Hon. Wilkinson Call, United Slates Senator from Florida. 

The island of Cuba is within a few hours' travel of 
the southern boundary of the United States. It, with 
the adjacent keys upon the coast of Florida, constitutes, 
according to all military authority, the absolute control 
and power over the Gulf of Mexico. It is, perhaps, 
the most fertile region of the globe, capable of sustain- 
ing a population of 8,000,000 or 10,000,000. The cli- 
mate is adapted to the highest physical development of 
man. With a government properly constituted and 
properly administered, it would furnish a home and 
business for a large portion of the people of the United 
States. As it is, the country presents a spectacle of 
ruin, of misgovernment, of barbarous cruelty, which, 
to say the least, is a disgrace to this civilized age. 

I am fully sensible of the great part which Spain has 
performed in the history of the world, of her ancient 
chivalry, of the great soldiers of which Gonsalvo de 
Cordova was the leader and the type, of the glories of 



370 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, and of the noble 
traits of Spanish character, and 1 speak here of her 
misgovernment and oppression of the people of Cuba 
in no spirit of disparagement, but rather attributing 
these evils to the impossibility of good government 
under a despotic rule so far removed from the home 
government and over a dependency where all classes 
of the people are resolved on a government founded 
on principles and organized with powers of their own 
choice. The heroic traits of Spanish character have 
been transmitted to their Cuban descendants. Their 
courage, their fortitude, their self-denial, their earnest 
convictions and their enthusiastic patriotism are all 
possessed by their Cuban descendants, and these quali- 
ties make their struggle for freedom the more desperate 
and the more certain of success. 

For more than a half-century the people of Cuba 
have been endeavoring to free themselves, as other 
Spanish colonies have done, from the control of the 
European government. They have exhibited a degree 
of patriotism, of courage, of capacity, equal to any 
which has been presented in the records of history. 
They are a people of quick and lively intelligence, easily 
susceptible of education in the higher branches of learn- 
ing, and, with the opportunities which they have had, 
their progress is remarkable. They have presented 
some of the most conspicuous instances of patriotism, 
of courage and of ability which are to be found in his- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 371 

tory. The late Jose Marti, whose life was given disin- 
terestedly to the cause of his fellow-countrymen, is sec- 
ond scarcely to any character in the pages of history; 
a man of distinguished learning; a man of independent 
fortune, devoting his entire life to the relief of his peo- 
ple from despotic government, from misgovernment, 
from cruelty, he is justly regarded as the patriot martyr 
i >f that country. So of the present generals in the field, 
who have come from places of safety to engage in the 
war, a war prosecuted by these people without means, 
without arms, without munitions of war, and a war 
which is the result of a unanimous sentiment upon the 
part of the people of all classes in Cuba. 

This is not the first attempt that has been made by 
these people to establish an independent government, 
a government of their own. Incited by our example, 
instructed by our teachings, acting upon our advice, 
these people attempted in 1870 to accomplish their in- 
dependence. For ten long years they maintained a 
successful war, and submitted only upon the promise 
that their grievances should be redressed. The re- 
port of a committee of the House of Representatives, 
a majority of whom adopted the report which I have in 
my hand, recognized the fact that these people were of 
right entitled to recognition as a belligerent power. 
This report, made by the chairman of the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, 
Mr. Banks, is a full and complete history of that strug- 



372 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

gle. It contains the references to the public law, which 
I shall not weary the Senate with reading, conclusively 
evidencing that where a people are maintaining a civil 
war, where with any kind of organization, with stability 
and firmness, they are protecting themselves by the 
endeavor to establish an independent government of 
their own, that is a condition which entitles them to the 
consideration of other nations as belligerents, which 
entitles them to neutrality on the part of other govern- 
ments. In that report T find the following: 

"The principles involved in this struggle, therefore, 
are manifest. The people of Cuba fight for — 

"Independence of Spain. 

"The right of self-government. 

"Religious liberty. 

"The abolition of slavery. 

"Universal suffrage. 

"The emancipation of industry and trade. 

"The freedom of speech and the press. 

"The rights of assembly and petition. 

"For general education: and 

" 'All ther inalienable rights of the people*' 

"They fight for the termination of European gov- 
ernments on this continent. They fight against Span 
ish tvrannv; against monarchical, aristocratic and per- 
sonal government: against dignities and titles; against 
the corrupt duplication of offices; against slavery and 
the slave trade, and against the government at Madrid. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 375 

which, to use the language of General Prim, 'in this 
contest stands before the world opposed to self-govern- 
ment, and resisting the abolition of slavery." It is to 
aid the Spanish cause that Spain appeals to us, and it is 
against her policy, revolting to the spirit of the age and 
the theory and practice of the American government 
from its foundation, that we protest. 



CUBAN FORCES. 

The Cubans had at Yara, October n, 1868, 147 
men; 4000 the 12th of October; 9700 in November and 
12,000 in December. They have now 10,000 well- 
armed men. There are 60,000 enrolled and drilled, 
but without arms. They claim that, with a supply of 
arms, they can put into the field 100,000 or 200,000 
fighting men — citizens, farmers and emancipated 
blacks — men of the country fighting for its liberties. 

MILITARY OPERATIONS. 

"These hostile forces have not forgotten the objects 
for which they were organized. From the declaration 
of Cuban independence at Yara to this hour there has 
not been a week, scarcely a day, which has not been 
marked in the calendar of war by fierce and bloody 
contests. No revolution presents a more constant and 



376 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

determined struggle. Although the Cubans were un- 
disciplined and unaccustomed to the use of arms, of 
which in the beginning they had few or none, and their 
enemy was composed of the best troops of the army 
and navy of Spain, whose places in the military posts 
of the island had been supplied by the resident Span- 
iards organized as volunteers, the Cubans nevertheless 
have been ready to meet their foes in skirmish, combat 
or battle, and have shown themselves as brave in at- 
tack as defense. A record of 200 skirmishes, combats, 
engagements and battles, occurring from the nth of 
October, 1868, to the defeat of Puello and Goyeneche, 
which terminated the campaign of December, 1869. 
and January, 1870, give an honorable distinction to 
the struggle of the Cubans for independence that would 
in nowise discredit a people long accustomed to self- 
government or trained to the use of arms. 



IT IS REGARDED AS WAR BY SPAIN AND THE UNITED 
STATES. AND IS SO INTENDED BY CUBA. 

"The proclamation of the captain-general, dated 
July 8, 1869, declares that the war of insurrection 
against Spain demands speedy and exemplary punish- 
ment, and decrees the penalty of death upon those who 
may be captured in arms. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA, 877 

"The American consul at Santiago de Cuba in- 
forms the Secretary of State, June 19, 1869, that the 
Spanish government applies the most rigorous and 
barbarous laws, which have made it a war of extermi- 
nation, shocking to every civilized nation. 

"Count Valmaseda issued a decree, April 4, 1869, 
which declares that there is no longer a place for neu- 
trality; that those who were not for him were against 
him, and, that his soldiers might know how to distin- 
guish them, they were called upon to observe the or- 
ders they themselves carried: 

"1. Every man, from the age of fifteen years up- 
ward, found away from his habitation, who does not 
prove a justified motive therefor, will be shot. 

"2. Every habitation unoccupied will be burned by 
the troops. 

"3. Every habitation, from which does not float a 
white flag, as a signal that its occupants desire, peace, 
will be reduced to ashes. 

"The Secretary of State, May 19, is instructed by the 
President to protest in the most forcible manner against 
such a mode of warfare, and demands that persons hav- 
ing a right to claim the protection of the United States 
shall not be sacrificed or injured in the conduct of hos- 
tilities upon this basis. 

"The American consul-general at Habana recently 
received from the British naval officers the assurance 



37S STORY OF SPA IX AND CUBA, 

of their protection and the offer of a file of marines to 
protect him whenever it became necessary to seek his 
safety on board a British man-of-war. And, still later, 
the American vice-consul at Santiago de Cuba was 
called to account for dispatches sent to his govern- 
ment, and published by the order of Congress, by the 
unauthorized and irresponsible volunteers who govern 
Cuba; and, under the advice of the Spanish governor, 
who was unable to protect him, sought his safety from 
personal violence by taking refuge on board a French 
frigate, under the protection of French naval officers." 
Here upon our immediate shores, here where a peo- 
ple following the declarations of our Declaration ot 
Independence and the principles upon which this gov- 
ernment is founded, a people with acknowledged griev- 
ances which all the departments of this government 
have affirmed, which the report of the committee of 
the House of Representatives has declared, which the 
Secretaries of State for more than twenty-five years, 
yes, I will say for more than fifty years, have repeatedly 
brought to the attention of this government; a people 
to whom neither law nor liberty is allowed ; a people as 
to whom the laws of war are not regarded by the domi- 
nant government, against whom a war merciless in re- 
spect to age, sex and condition is maintained in a case 
of this kind, where these people, acting upon the prin- 
ciples which we have declared and the advice which 
we have given to them, assert precisely the same prin- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 381 

ciples, and by force of arms endeavor to obtain them, 
that we should silently permit this war to proceed with- 
out a single word of encouragement, without a single 
word of protection to their legitimate and recognized 
rights, is certainly not creditable to this government, 
and is certainly not in accordance with justice, or with 
that high position which this people ought to take, and 
when we affirm the Monroe doctrine, if we permit in- 
stances of this kind to occur beneath our very eyes and 
within our reach, the affirmation is a vain one and 
should carry no weight or respect with it. 

I have here a report, which I shall presently read, 
from a citizen who has recently been in Mexico and 
Cuba, a man of character, of intelligence, a correspond- 
ent of the public press, which exhibits a condition of 
things which imperatively demands immediate action 
on the part of this government. 

As I have said, the question of public law is a clear 
one. It is affirmed by Mr. Webster, it is affirmed by 
Mr. Everett, it is affirmed by all our public authorities, 
that a state of civil war actually existing, maintained 
with persistency and earnestness, entitles the parties 
maintaining that war to recognition as belligerents, 
fn the case of Hungary many years ago, the President 
of the United States sent an agent to examine into the 
condition of the insurrection or the civil war, with in- 
structions to him, which I have here, that if he found 
that it was a stable, persistent determination of the 



382 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

people of that country to establish an independent and 
free government, to say to them that the United States 
would accord to them not only belligerent rights, but 
recognize them as an independent power. 

"The action of President Taylor, through Mr. Clay- 
ton, Secretary of State, in sending, in June, 1849, Mr. 
A. D. Mann as a special agent to investigate the condi- 
tion of the Hungarian insurrection, is elsewhere con- 
sidered. In Mr. Mann's instructions, June 18, 1849, 
is the following : 

" 'Should the new government prove to be, in your 
opinion, firm and stable, the President will cheerfully 
recommend to Congress at their next session the rec- 
ognition of Hungary, and you might intimate, if you 
should see fit, that the President would in that event 
be gratified to receive a diplomatic agent from Hun- 
gary in the United States by or before the next meeting 
of Congress, and that he entertains no doubt whatever 
that in case her new government should prove to be 
firm and stable, her independence would be speedily 
recognized by that enlightened bod).' " 

President Grant, in his second annual message, in 
1870, said: 

"As soon as T learned that a republic had been pro- 
claimed at Paris and that the people of France had 
acquiesced in the change, the minister of the United 
States was directed by telegraph to recognize it and to 
tender my congratulations and those of the people of 



8T0RT OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 383 

the United States. The re-establishment in France 
of a system of government disconnected with the dy- 
nastic traditions of Europe appeared to be a proper 
subject for the felicitations of Americans. Should the 
present struggle result in attaching the hearts of the 
French to our simpler forms of representative govern- 
ment, it will be a subject of still further satisfaction to 
our people. While we make no effort to impose our 
institutions upon the inhabitants of other countries, 
and while we adhere to our traditional neutrality in 
civil contests elsewhere, we cannot be indifferent to the 
spread of American political ideas in a great and highly 
civilized country like France." 

President Jefferson, in his third annual message, in 
1803, said: 

"Congress witnessed, at their last sf ssion, the extra- 
ordinary agitation produced in the public mind by the 
suspension of our right of deposit at the port of New 
Orleans, no assignment of another place having been 
made according to treaty." 

Mr. Jefferson, in writing to President Madison, 
April 27, 1809, said: 

"It will be objected to our receiving Cuba that no 
limit can then be drawn to our future acquisitions: 
Cuba can be defended by us without a navy." 

Mr. Everett, in discussing the territorial growth of 
the United States, used the following language: 

"The island of Cuba lies at our doors. It commands 



884 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

the approach to the Gulf of Mexico, which washes the 
shores of five of our States. It bars the entrance of 
that great river which drains half the North American 
continent, and with its tributaries forms the largest 
system of internal water communication in the world. 
It keeps watch at the doorway of our intercourse with 
California by the Isthmus route." 

Mr. Everett, writing to Lord John Russell, in 1853, 
said: 

"A recent impartial French traveler, M. Ampere, 
confirms this impression. All the ordinary political 
rights enjoyed in free countries are denied to the people 
of that island. The government is, in principle, the 
worst form of despotism, namely, absolute authority 
delegated to a military viceroy, and supported by an 
army from abroad. I speak of the nature of the gov- 
ernment and not of the individuals by whom it is ad- 
ministered, for I have formed a very favorable opinion 
of the personal character of the present captain-general, 
as of one or two of his predecessors." 

I have here a report which I shall proceed to read. 
As I have stated, it is from a person who has been for- 
merly connected with the diplomatic affairs of this 
country in foreign countries, a man of accurate obser- 
vation, with ample means of observation, a man of 
character and reliability in every respect. He says: 

"I came from Mexico to New York by sea, stopping 
at Habana. I discovered one thing before I had been 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 387 

there six hours, that none of the official reports sent 
from Cuba portrayed the real condition of affairs. I 
met a vast number of people and a number of hacenda- 
dos, or planters, from the Santa Clara district. I failed 
to find one Cuban under the age of thirty-five who was 
not an officeholder who was not in complete sympathy 
with the insurgents. 

"In Habana the feeling is very strong for the bellig- 
erents, but the city is so covered with spies that it is 
difficult for anyone but an American to learn the truth. 
I was told, and I soon saw for myself, that Habana was 
as strongly revolutionary as any part of the island, 'flic 
business condition of that city is deplorable, and will 
be much worse if the insurgents prevent the grinding 
of the crops. It is hourly expected that such an order 
will be issued to the haciendados. This will bring 
about a complete paralysis of the island, and will make 
out of every laborer a revolutionist. On the boat from 
Habana to Xew York I met one of the wealthiest plant- 
ers of the Santa Clara district, who is a son of a Spanish 
marquis. He was introduced to me in Habana as one 
of the most influential men of the island. He says that 
it is a great error that the insurgents are made up 
mostly of negroes. He has been among them, and 
says they are as fine a body of men as could be gotten 
together. He had abandoned his hacienda because he 
had been ordered not to grind. He says that it will 
not be an unpopular movement for the insurgents to 



388 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

prevent the grinding over the entire island, because 
every man who owns a foot of land knows that this is 
the only way to bring the revolution to a close. He 
says, however, that the insurgent leaders are only 
waiting to see what this Congress will do. If the United 
States or other nations fail to recognize the belliger- 
ency of Cuba by January, the grinding will be pre- 
vented. This is a difficult thing to do. The grinding 
will begin in December. It must be understood that 
the sugar-cane is only planted once in ten or twelve 
vears. There will be no invasion of the plantations, 
but when a planter continues to grind when ordered not 
to do so, several insurgents are sent out to get employ- 
ment at such places. When the wind is favorable, the 
cane is fired, and there is no power under heaven that 
can prevent its total destruction. The planters know 
this, and will make no attempt to grind if ordered not 
to do so. Many have already ceased to grind prepara- 
tory to the order being issued. 

"I was told by a number of Cubans, who are of pure 
Spanish descent, that it is impossible to put down this 
revolution even by concessions. The war up to this 
time has been purely guerrilla fighting. The insur- 
gents fire from ambush, and before the Spanish army 
can recover themselves, the insurgents have fled. This 
is kept up on all the lines of march of the Spanish 
troops, and they are harassed even after they are en- 
camped. But every time the insurgents fire and re- 



STORY OF SPAIN AXD CUBA. 389 

treat, it is given out officially that they were routed. In 
Mexico there are a number of young men who have 
been sent there by their families for fear they would 
join openly in the rebellion. On the boat with me from 
Habana, there were three whom I was told by other 
Cubans were being sent abroad until the revolution is 
over. They, with six others, had left Habana and 
joined the belligerents. They were recaptured, and 
their family influence was such that they were sent 
from the island instead of being imprisoned. The 
whole hope and feeling of the Cubans, so far as I could 
learn, is to become a State in the Union. A business 
man told me in Habana that even the Spanish them- 
selves on the island admit that any condition would be 
better than that now existing.'' 

The same statement contained in the correspondence 
is found in the report made by General Banks twenty- 
five years ago. During all that period of time these 
people, being promised some relief from the condition 
of oppressive taxation, of despotic rule, which prevailed 
over them, have been contending against these evils, 
and now, finding the situation intolerable, finding that 
property yields no return, that labor is without ade- 
quate compensation, that no native Cuban is allowed 
to hold any office of dignity or trust, that the natives 
are entirely deprived of all control over their own 
country and their own affairs, and a military despotism 
constantly maintained and supported by armed troops 



390 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

brought from Spain, they have protested in the face of 
the civilized world against these wrongs. They have 
the same cause precisely that we had for our Declara- 
tion of Independence. We may take phrase by phrase 
that great proclamation which resounded throughout 
the world with a gleam of hope to all oppressed people, 
and we will find that their case is parallel in all respects 
to our own. Take the declaration that government 
derives its just powers from the consent of the gov- 
erned, and that they have a right to assert a change in 
their form of government when oppressed and deprived 
of the objects for which government is instituted. We 
find that the Cubans are precisely in line with ourselves 
in that respect, and they have a right to claim whatever 
consideration the public law will allow a power in that 
condition. 

I ask the immediate consideration of the Committee 
on Foreign Relations to the joint resolution. Ameri- 
can citizens are being imprisoned. I understand that 
General Sanguillv, whom the paper reports was sen- 
tenced to hard labor for life, is an American citizen, 
entitled to the protection of this government. I am 
informed, whether correctly or not I am unable to 
state, that his trial was a mock trial ; that there is no just 
ground of suspicion even against him, much less proof; 
that it is true he was a general and a leader in the 
former revolution, but that he has taken no part, what- 
ever his sympathies may be, in the present struggle. 




NATIVE OANDT SBLLBR. 




h 
h 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 393 

If that be true, then it is the imperative duty of this 
government to interfere. If there are other cases in 
which Americans have been deprived of their rights, 
it is the imperaitve duty of this government to inter- 
fere. But beyond that, what considerations of public 
policy are there which justify Spain in continuing to 
enforce her government over those people? 

The island is very remote from her home country — 
from the kingdom of Spain. Cuba is the last remaining 
vestige, with the little island immediately adjacent to 
it, of her vast dominion upon this continent. It is a 
great expense to her. It must yield in the future to the 
rapidly increasing population of the American repub- 
lics and to the force which they can bring to bear. 
It must yield to the consideration of the necessity for 
the control of that island by this government, with its 
70,000,000 people, soon to be 100,000,000. The future 
renders it impossible that Spain can maintain her do- 
minion there. Why, then, should not this great gov- 
ernment say that this butchery and destruction of hu- 
man life shall cease? Why shall we not say to Spain, 
in peaceable and respectful negotiations, that we are 
willing to protect the people of Cuba, and to make to 
her such compensation as may be reasonably adequate, 
she being the responsible party? I can see no reason 
why we should not do so. 

That island must be subject to our dominion in some 
shape, and although annexation is not now desirable, 



394 UTORX OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

yet it is desirable that those people should be an inde- 
pendent people, and that they should be subject to our 
protection. The island should not be a place from 
which, under any condition whatever, hostile fleets or 
hostile armies can be directed against the United States 
or against our commerce in the Gulf of Mexico. There 
are, therefore, no considerations of policy which can 
justify our further aiding the government of Spain in 
subjecting Cuba to her domination, nor can there be 
any considerations in the interest of Spain herself which 
would justify such a policy. 

I see in the public prints which 1 have here that the 
people of Spain are themselves beginning to revolt 
against the home government; that the vast expense 
with which this struggle is burdening the people of 
Spain is creating discontent. It will inevitably destroy 
the dynasty of the government if it is persisted in, be- 
cause the Cuban people will stand upon the everlasting 
principles of right. If our government is a true gov- 
ernment, and is founded upon a true declaration of 
principles, they have a right to establish their inde- 
pendence. They are justified in the assertion of that 
right by the oppression and the misgovernment which 
for more than a century has been imposed upon them. 
They are justified by the natural and proper ambition 
of any people for prosperity and for reasonable promo- 
tion for their young men in the public service. With 
one-half th^ evils that exist in Cuba our people would 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 395 

long ago have risen in revolt against any government, 
even if it sacrificed the last man in the country. 

In my judgment, there is no consideration which for- 
bids us immediately according to these people the 
rights of belligerents in our ports and territory. It 
would be no cause of offense to Spain. Spain declared 
that the Confederacy was a belligerent power and rec- 
ognized it. The proclamation of the English govern- 
ment recognized the civil war in the South. Both of 
those proclamations I have in my hand. When this 
people have acted upon our example, upon our advice, 
under our instruction; when they are asserting pre- 
cisely the rights which we have declared in the face of 
the world justify forcible resistance, the organization 
of a new government and the establishment of its pow- 
ers in accordance with their wishes; when they are pur- 
suing precisely the course which we have advised them 
to pursue, with what justice or propriety can this great 
people hesitate to accord to them the full rights of bel- 
ligerents, when Spain did it to the South, when Eng- 
land did it by proclamation ? It seems to me we should 
be glad to do it; that we should embrace eagerly the 
opportunity to encourage those people by extending 
to them the same aid that we do to the Spanish govern- 
ment. Yet what is our attitude? 

This government is actually giving aid and comfort 
to the Spaniards against the Cubans. It is the power 
of this government that today maintains the Spanish 



396 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

army in the island of Cuba. It is this government 
which is responsible for the outrages. I do not mean 
to say that it is the President or his cabinet, but that it 
is this government, and the attitude it occupies in all its 
branches in not declaring that those people are entifled 
to belligerent rights in our ports and territory, which 
today is maintaining the power of Spain in the island 
of Cuba. 

We allow munitions of war to be bought by Spain, 
we allow ships to be fitted out, we allow Spain to pur- 
chase whatever is necessary in the way of supplies to 
continue the war; but the Cubans are prohibited from 
doing so, and the whole power of our government is 
exercised to deprive them of these rights in our terri- 
tory. 1 say there is no ground of public law and no 
ground of public policy in respect to our relations. 
present and future, with the island of Cuba which jus- 
tify it. I say there is no ground of justice that permits 
it; no ground of humanity that would tolerate it. It 
will be a disgrace to our country if a people following 
our example, acting upon our advice, a people who 
can claim that every line in our Declaration of Inde- 
pendence furnishes a parallel to their own case, shall, 
by our aid and our acquiescence, be permitted to be 
crushed, their women and children murdered and 
merciless war maintained against them. 

My attention has been called to a proclamation of 
General Gomez in regard to the destruction of prop- 



STO.Br OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 399 

erty. The report which I have read explains that 
matter. It is not a destruction of property. It is 
simply a declaration that as a military necessity the 
operation of grinding cane and manufacturing sugar 
shall not, for the present, be continued. The cane is 
not destroyed. It is only destroyed where the military 
order is disobeyed. My information is that the Cuban 
owners of this property, and even the Spaniards who 
own it, concur in this order and recognize its propriety 
and wisdom. But if that were not so, what comparison 
does that bear to the merciless destruction of human 
life which is carried on by the other side? What of 
the arrest and trial upon suspicion of citizens, subjects 
of Spain or American citizens, and their transportation 
to the penal colony of Spain, with all its horrors? 

I hope the Committee on Foreign Relations will 
take this subject into consideration. I hope it will not 
postpone action, but that it will be moved by these 
considerations to report at an early day in favor of the 
joint resolution which I introduced, or some other 
measure that will accord to the people of Cuba the 
same rights in our territory and our courts that are now 
given to Spain — the rights which a neutral govern- 
ment accords whenever there is a condition of civil 
war. As I have said, I do not care to occupy the time 
of the Senate for any length of time by reading the va- 
rious authorities upon the subject of international war, 



400 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

of public war, in case of resistance by a people, but I 

will read a few citations here. 

"A civil war," Vattel says, "is when a party arises in 

a State which no longer obeys the sovereign, and is 

sufficiently strong to make head against him, or when, 

in a republic, the nation is divided into two opposite 

factions, and both sides take up arms. 

************* 

"When a part of a State takes up arms against the 
government, if it is sufficiently strong to resist its ac- 
tion, and to constitute two parties of equally balanced 
forces, the existence of civil war is thenceforward de- 
termined. 

************* 

"It is no ground of offense to a nation that civil war 
is recognized as a public condition of war. It is no 
ground of offense that neutrality between the contend- 
ing parties is declared to be the proper attitude of other 
nations toward such a struggle." 

So said Mr. Webster, so said Mr. Frelinghuysen, so 
declared Mr. Everett, and there is an extensive cor- 
respondence here, setting forth by all these different 
officials and Secretaries of our government the same 
civil war in its most cruel form by the Spanish govern- 
ment upon the people of Cuba. Here is a half-century 
declaration of atrocious war, of merciless hostility, of 
declarations of an authentic character from our own 
government and our own Secretaries of State, declar- 



STOUT OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 401 

ing that those people are not only engaged in a war 
which entitles them to recognition, but that it is a war 
in which humanity itself demands that they should be 
accorded the rights of belligerents. 

I submit that Cuba is "the queen of the Antilles." It 
is the most desirable place of residence in the West 
India islands for the human race. The conditions of 
life are easier there; there is less of extreme poverty; 
labor obtains a more adequate and more comfortable 
reward than anywhere else. The day will come when 
it will be the Garden of Eden of the human race. The 
day will come when a confederated republic of the 
islands of the West Indies will be established. Unless 
this civilization of ours is a failure, and this republican 
government of ours a fraud and a falsehood, it is the 
part of wisdom that we should recognize the fact. If 
these free institutions of ours are to build up a happy 
people, are to ameliorate the poverty of the world, are 
to create a higher condition of humanity, it is the part 
of wise statesmanship in us to say that the cruelties of 
merciless war shall not be practiced upon a people im- 
mediately within our reach and following our example, 
taught by our precepts to do that which they are doing. 

I hope that the disgrace we are now under of actually 
aiding the government of Spain by the present condi- 
tion of the public laws in oppression and merciless rule 
over these people will be avoided by early action on the 
part of Congress. 



402 STOR1 OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

The people of the United States, with great unanim- 
ity, desire this action from us, and require such pro- 
ceeding as will secure freedom and independence to 
Cuba. 

The will of the people has been expressed in great 
meetings in New York, Chicago and the cities of the 
several States. 

It is not the part of friendship to Spain to delay this 
action. The sooner the United States speaks in deter- 
mined but friendly and respectful terms, the better for 
Spain, and for Cuba, and all the best interests of the 
nations. 



X'fUtil OF ISl'AlA A.\D VLB A. 4Uo 



CHAPTER XV. 

CUBAN INDEPENDENCE. 

By Hon. G. G. Vest, United States Senator from Missouri. 

I have not the slightest idea of detaining the Senate 
by any elaborate argument or remarks upon this ques- 
tion. 1 had not expected to speak at all. 1 cannot, 
however, resist stating that if the Senator from Califor- 
nia, Mr. White, is correct as to his legal propositions, 
and 1 think he is so far as concerns the rights of bel- 
ligerents or the effect of the recognition of belligerent 
rights, our action here will amount to nothing. If he 
is correct in regard to what should be done as to recog- 
nizing the independence of a country at war with an- 
other and attempting to assert its independence, then 
until the whole result has been achieved by that coun- 
try itself we are powerless in the premises. That, it 
seems to me. is a most astonishing proposition. We 
must wait, according to the Senator from California, 
until all vestige of Spanish power has been swept by 
force of arms from the island of Cuba before we can, 
without violating international law, recognize the in- 
dependence of that struggling people. 



4UG STORY OF iSPAlA AAD VLBA. 

If that be the doctrine of international law, where 
would be the government of the United States today 
and the people of the United States? Instead of as- 
sembling here as Senators from sovereign States, under 
the constitution of a free country, this would be an- 
other dominion parliament like that of Canada, and the 
United States of America would simply be an appan- 
age of the British Throne. If France had acted upon 
the doctrine announced by the Senator from California 
and waited until our fathers had achieved their own 
independence, the result would have been far different, 
and we today would be English subjects instead of free 
citizens of a free country. 

France recognized the independence of the United 
States, and then went farther than any other country 
has ever gone in behalf of another, except for the pur- 
pose of self-interest. She sent her armies and her 
fleets here, and placed upon the people of the United 
States a debt of undying gratitude. When 1 heard the 
Senator from Maine, Mr. Frye, our President pro tem- 
pore, read the wonderful Farewell Address of the Fa- 
ther of his Country last Saturday, I was struck with the 
argument which Washington felt himself called upon 
to make in defense of his proclamation of neutrality in 

1793- 

In all the life of that most remarkable man, the 

greatest in all respects the world has ever produced, 

there is no episode more startling or interesting than 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 407 

the history of his issuing that proclamation in 1793, 
which declared that the people of the United States 
would remain neutral in the struggle between France 
and the combined armies of Europe. France, with a 
disinterestedness which, I say, has put a debt of undy- 
ing gratitude upon us and our children, had sent her 
armies and fleets to help us in a struggle with the throne 
of England. When the continental armies combined 
against France, and when the soldiers of France had 
marched across the Continent fighting the world in 
arms, with their flags upon which was emblazoned, 
"Death to tyrants and liberty to all,"" Washington re- 
fused to give one dollar or to send one man to assist 
our former allies, although England headed the com- 
bination against republican France. 

Washington was right, and his greatness was never 
so demonstrated as when he stood against popular 
clamor in the United States, and declared that we could 
never with safety depart from the great doctrine of 
absolute neutrality in the affairs and wars of Europe. 

It is a singular fact, that while today we almost deify 
Washington, while he is now, and will always, so long 
as a single colony of Americans can be found, be 
"First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of 
his countrymen," at the time when he issued that proc- 
lamation, with the assistance of Jefferson, a mob gath- 
ered around his private residence, then the Executive 
Mansion, and personal violence was absolutely threat- 



408 ST0R7 OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

ened to the President of the United States and the 
.savior of the republic. That he stood against that 
clamor is a tribute to his memorj greater than can be 
paid by the most fervid eloquence. 

I do not agree with the views of the Senator from 
California as to the recognition of the independence of 
a foreign country or a foreign people struggling for 
their rights to self-government. If the doctrine be 
correct all vestige of military power on the part of 
the mother country or the country that seeks to put 
down the insurrection must be swept away before we 
can act, then our action is simply brutum fulmen and 
amounts to nothing. The people themselves have al- 
ready struck the blow that made them free, and we can 
only accept results, and say that the fiat of the god of 
battles has keen put upon their endeavor to assert the 
right to govern themselves, [f we as the great repub- 
lic of the world mean to stand by these people who are 
imitating us and endeavoring to make a government 
for themselves like that of this country, we must help 
them in their hour of need, and if we do not g< i s< i far as 
to do it by arms, which is not advocated by anybody in 
this chamber or out of it, we can at least do so by stating 
to the world that we believe the attempt of the mon- 
archy of Spain to suppress this insurrection, as the) 
term it, this endeavor to form a republic upon the 
island of Cuba, is absolutely hopeless and desperate, 
as 1 believe under Cod it is todav There will never 




KOYAL PALMS, BOTANICAL GARDENS. 



STORY OF STAIN AND CUBA. 411 

come the hour when Spain can reassert her dominion 
over the island of Cuba. It is impossible that she 
should do so, and I speak from the great teachings of 
history and experience. 

The course of Spain upon this continent is marked 
with blood. There was a time when the Spanish do- 
minion extended almost from the southern limits of 
the United States to the farthest and southernmost 
point in South America. No American can ever for- 
get those burning pages of Prescott that describe tht- 
conquest of Mexico and the conquest of Peru, when 
the Spaniards, with the lust for gold and the lust for 
blood, marked their terrible pathway across the coun- 
tries lying south of us. Of all those vast dominions 
won by blood, won through torture and fire, there re- 
mains to this toothless old wolf the single island of 
Cuba. And Spain today, like the old giant in that 
wonderful picture of Bunyan, almost helpless, sits at 
the door of the dark cave of despotism and grins with 
impotent rage at the procession of splendid republics 
that march on in the progress toward civilization and 
liberty. 

That wolf can never retain this single cub. Never 
can Spain hold the island of Cuba within sight of the 
republic of the United States, but five hours away from 
us, after she has lost all the South American provinces, 
after she has been unable to hold one foot of soil in all 
the wide area of the southern half of this continent. 



412 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

This is no new question, because it has been at our 
doors as Cuba is geographically at our door today, it 
has been before us in the years that are past. My friend 
from Texas handed me some months ago a singular 
paper taken from one of the letters of Mr. Jefferson. It 
sounds today almost like prophecy, and I will read it : 

"Napoleon will certainly give his consent without 
difficulty to our receiving the Floridas, and with some 
difficulty possibly Cuba. 

5^C ^K -T* -l' *I^ ^ 'T* "T^ *T~ *T* -T* *f* *1* 

"That he would give us the Floridas to withhold in- 
tercourse with the residue of those colonies cannot be 
doubted. But that is no price; because they are ours 
in the first moment of the first war; and until a war they 
are of no particular necessity to us. But, although 
with difficulty, he will consent to our receiving Cuba 
into our Union, to prevenl our aid to Mexico and the 
other provinces. That would be a price, and 1 would 
immediately erect a column on the southernmost limit 
of Cuba, and inscribe on it a ne plus ultra as to us in 
that direction. We should then have only to include 
the north in our confederacy, which would be, of 
course, in the first war, and we should have such an 
empire for liberty as she has never surveyed since the 
creation ; and I am persuaded no constitution was ever 
before so well calculated as ours for extensive empire 
and self-government. As the Mentor went away be- 
fore this change, and will leave France probably while 



STORY OF XPAIX AND CUBA. 413 

it is still a secret in that hemisphere, I presume the ex- 
pediency of pursuing her with a swift-sailing dispatcn 
was considered, it will be objected tu our receiving 
Cuba that no limit can then be drawn to our future ac- 
quisitions. Cuba can be defended by us without a 
navy, and this develops the principle which ought to 
limit our views. Nothing should ever be accepted 
which would require a navy to defend it." (Volume 
V, page 445. Letter to the President, April 2j, 1809.) 

From the Spanish press, under the espionage of the 
Spanish authorities, it can be proven that every Cuban 
is in sympathy with the patriotic endeavor to achieve 
independence and self-government upon that island. 
No instance can be found in which a people combined 
and confederated and unanimous as they are, a million 
and a half of people, have ever been subjugated except 
by extermination. Why, what American boy does not 
recollect that burning oration of Henry Clay, the great 
orator of the West, when he spoke for Greece in 1824, 
and when he predicted thai so long as Thermopylae and 
Marathon were there no Greek would lay down his 
arms before the Turkish power? 

We are told now that these are negroes, mulattoes, 
Indians, who are fighting for independence. So much 
the more cause why we should sympathize with them 
and say, God help them in their dire extremity. Lib- 
erty lives with the poor and oppressed, not with the 
wealthy and powerful. Tt throbs in the breast of the 



114 STOh') OF ,si'Al.\ AM) CUBA. 

caged bird, and has gone with martyrs, to the stake and 
kissed their burning lips as the spirit winged its flight 
to God. Liberty cannot be extinguished when a peo- 
ple are unanimous in defense of the rights which God 
has given them. If these people, ignorant and poor, 
struggling against this despotism, have imitated us, 
why should we content ourselves with the poor ex- 
pression of sympathy with their cause? 

It is a mere farce for us to do anything else than de- 
clare before the world that we believe the cause of the 
Spaniard is hopeless in the island of Cuba. Each Sen- 
ator must answer that for himself. 1 deny and I repu- 
diate the doctrine that all vestige of Spanish power 
shall be eliminated from Cuba before we can recognize 
the independence of that people. 

Reverting again to that wonderful letter of Jeffer- 
son, it has been said in criticism that in 1809, when Mr. 
Jefferson wrote it, he was simply writing in the interest 
of extending the slave power by annexing Cuba to the 
South. My answer is that never in one hour or min- 
ute of his life did Mr. Jefferson want to extend the area 
of slavery. Of all the men in this country who op- 
posed slavery, Thomas Jefferson was the foremost. 
When he was twenty-three years old, and went, a 
beardless boy, into the House of burgesses in Virginia 
as a delegate from his native county of Albemarle, his 
first measure was a bill for the gradual removal of slav- 
ery from the soil of Virginia, and although a slave- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 417 

holder all his life by inheritance, the last act of his 
trembling and dying hands was to emancipate his 
slaves and cause their removal to the Northwest Terri- 
tory, which he had made free soil for all time to come. 

Mr. Jefferson, it will be seen in that letter, wanted 
Cuba annexed peaceably by purchase as the Floridas 
were purchased from Spain. He did not seek to con- 
quer the country and wrest it away from the Spanish 
power. But it will be observed that nowhere does he 
cherish the idea that this country can hold any colony, 
any province, any mere appanage to its sovereign 
power. Every particle of our territory must be either 
a Territory or a State, a sovereign State, because our 
Constitution contemplates no other relation between 
the people and the national government than as citi- 
zens of Territories, incipient States, and of States them- 
selves. 

1 admit — but it is not necessary to discuss it here — ■ 
that the ultimate and logical result of independence in 
Cuba would be that it would become a part of the 
United States. While I resisted on the Hawaiian ques- 
tion the project which was brought here to annex- 
Hawaii to the United States, I did it upon the ground 
that it would necessitate an immense naval force, which 
Mr. Jefferson, in that letter, says is to be avoided and 
deprecated, and he laid down as a criterion for the ac- 
quisition of territory outside of our compact area 
whether it would require a naval force to maintain and 



418 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

keep it as an integral portion of the Union. He states, 
and I believe it to be true, that no navy would be neces- 
sary to hold Cuba as a State, or part of a State, within 
the American confederacy. If that be so, it is simply 
a question as to the fitness of the population of that 
island to become citizens of the United States and take 
upon themselves the responsibility of citizenship. That, 
however, is an ulterior question. 

We are confronted now with one overwhelming, 
overruling, absolute and determinate question in this 
debate: Shall we, the great exemplar of republican in- 
stitutions throughout the world, declare that in our 
opinion the people of Cuba are able to maintain their 
independence and have achieved it? Are we to wait 
until that island is desolated by fire and sword? Are 
we, a Christian and God-fearing people, to stand silent 
and dumb while the Spanish governor, called a general, 
declares that he intends to pen up the people of Cuba 
and butcher them into subjection to the Spanish 
throne? If we do it, God will curse us. If we do this 
thing, and stand here until a desert has been made of 
that splendid island, you may be certain that the time 
will come when there will be retribution upon us as a 
people, because we have not been true to the task as- 
signed us by Providence, because we have not cher- 
ished the legacy of self-government as bequeathed to 
us by our fathers. 



STORY OF SPAIN AXD CUBA. 419 



CHAPTER XVI. 

SPANISH DESPOTISM IN CUBA SUPPORTED BY THE 
UNITED STATES. 

By Hon. Roger Q. Mills, United States Senator from Texas. 

I shail not treat this question as one which demands 
from the people of the United States the recognition of 
the insurgents of Cuba as belligerents. The people of 
Cuba have far better rights, far stronger claims to the 
consideration of the American people than their rec- 
ognition as belligerents. * * * * * * * 

Our fathers for a century have asserted and main- 
tained that the people of the United States had rights 
in Cuba, rights not only in Cuba, but in every foot of 
soil in this hemisphere, and rights that they said they 
were readv not only to assert, but to maintain with the 
whole of the military and naval power of the republic. 
We have never asserted that we had any rights in Ire- 
land, in Hungary, in Poland, or anywhere in Europe, 
but we have asserted that we have a right in even- 
square acre of land in this hemisphere, and the highest 
right, the right of self-preservation of our own house- 
hold. We find this declaration of rights proclaimed 
awav back in the beginning of our century. It has 



i-.b ntultX 01 SPAIN AND CUBA. 

been stated here that Mr. Canning was the author of 
what is known as the Monroe doctrine. The Monroe 
doctrine is as old as humanity. God was the author of 
the Monroe doctrine. When He made man He gave 
him a right to preserve his lite and his liberty, and when 
men are associated together in States, the nation and 
the States have the same rights that the individual has. 

'The man who owns a tract of land adjoining mine, 
owns it from the centre of the earth to the centre of the 
skv. So the books all tell us. Yet if he builds a pow- 
der house upon his land, 1 have a right to have it 
abated. If that land is so situated that an enemy can 
seize it at an\ time and imperil my life and the lives of 
my wife and my children. I have a right in every foot of 
that land for the preservation of a higher right than his 
right to the title and possession of his land. 

In [802 and 1803, Mr. Jefferson asserted to Spain 
that the people of the United States had a right to tin- 
navigation of the Mississippi river. At that time Spain 
owned all the soil on the western bank of the Missis- 
sip])! river. She owned the east bank of the lower river 
back to the Floridas. Mr. Jefferson asserted that we 
had a right to traverse the Mississippi river from our 
own territory across the territory of Spain — a right that 
we would maintain by force if necessary, a right which 
Spain could not and should not take from us. Not 
onb 'lid he assert that we had a right to navigate the 
ri\ !' out to tin- sea, but that we had a right of deposit 



422 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

at New Orleans, where the waters between the ocean 
and the river met, because he said the craft that navi- 
gated the river could not navigate the ocean, and the 
craft that navigated the ocean could not navigate the 
river, and there must be a change of freight; that we 
were entitled to the facilities on the land of Spain, and 
if that land was subject to overflow, we had a right to 
go to the highlands where the freight would be pro- 
tected, and there to use such means as w r e thought 
proper to protect our property. He said our right to 
navigate the river through Spanish territory was an in- 
herent right, and the right to navigate comprehended 
all the means that were necessary to its use; that the 
right of navigation would be useless without the de- 
posit, so that passengers and freight could be ex- 
changed from one vessel to another. 

Prior to the year 1800, as I have said, Spain owned 
all the country afterwards known as Louisiana. In 
the year 1800 she transferred to Napoleon Bonaparte 
all that territory. Did she not have a right to do it? 
Was she not the sovereign of the soil? Most unques- 
tionably she was. But when she conveyed that terri- 
tory to Napoleon Bonaparte, and Mr. Jefferson learned 
of the fact, then being President, he told his minister to 
say to Napoleon Bonaparte: "You have assumed an 
attitude of defiance against this government; you have 
taken a spot of soil that imperils the rights and liberties 
of the people of this country. We could have per- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 423 

mitted that territory to remain in the possession of 
Spain; Spain could not threaten our peace, our power, 
nor the safety of our homes. That river and its tribu- 
taries drain three-fourths of our country; its branches 
go through that vast extent of country that was soon 
to be settled by millions of people. The power that 
holds the mouth of the Mississippi river is necessarily 
the enemy of the United States if it has strength enough 
to imperil our institutions;" and he told the embassa- 
dor, Mr. Robert R. Livingston, to present these facts to 
the French government. I will read from his letter 
In a letter to Mr. Robert R. Livingston, April 18, 1802. 
in Paris, Mr. Jefferson says: 

There is on the globe one single spot the possessor of 
which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New 
Orleans, through which the produce of three-eighths 
of our territory must pass to market, and from its fer- 
tility it will ere long yield more than half of our whole 
produce, and contain more than half of our inhabitants. 
France, placing herself in that door, assumes to us the 
attitude of defiance. Spain might have retained it 
quietly for years., Her pacific disposition, her feeble 
state, would induce her to increase our facilities there, 
so that her possession of the place would be hardly felt 
by us, and it would not, perhaps, be very long before 
some circumstance might arise which might make the 
cession of it to us the price of something of more worth 
to her. Not so can it ever be in the hands of France. 
The impetuosity of her temper, the energy and restless- 
ness of her character, placed in a point of eternal fric- 
tion with us, and our character, which, though quiet 
and loving peace and the pursuit of wealth, is high- 
minded, despising wealth in competition with insult or 



424 STORY OF SPAIN AXD CUBA. 

injury, enterprising and energetic as any nation on 
earth — these circumstances render it impossible that 
France and the United States can continue long friends 
when they meet in so irritable a position. They, as 
well as we, must be blind if they do not see this; and we 
must be very improvident if we do not begin to make 
arrangements on that hypothesis. The day that France 
takes possession of New < >rleans fixes the sentence 
which is to restrain her forever within her low-water 
mark. It seals the union of two nations, who. in con- 
junction, can maintain exclusive possession of the 
ocean. From that moment we must marry ourselves 
to the British fleet and nation. 

Why this strong protest against France that had ac- 
quired jurisdiction over that territory, that had ac- 
quired all the title, as strong a title as Spain could 
convey? She was the sole possessor ami the sole 
owner of it before. Why this strong language if we 
had not a right even superior to the right of France, 
superior to the right of Spain, superior to the right of 
any power that could imperil our life as a nation? 

Let us go on. He writes to Mr. Dupont, a very dis- 
tinguished Frenchman who was here, and the friend of 
Mr. Jefferson, a man of influence in France and whom 
he made the bearer of this letter. The date of this let- 
ter to Mr. Dupont is April 25. 1802: 

I wish you to be possessed of the subject, because 
you may be able to impress on the government of 
France the inevitable consequences of their taking 
possession of Louisiana: and though, as I here men- 
tion, the cession of New < Orleans and the Floridas to us 
would be a palliati* >n. yet I believe it would be no more, 
and that this measure will cost France, and perhaps 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 425 

not very long hence, a war which will annihilate her on 
the ocean and place that element under the despotism 
of two nations, which I am not reconciled to, the more 
because my own would be one of them. 

Again, Air. Jefferson says to him in the same letter: 

In Europe, nothing but Europe is seen or supposed 
to have any right in the affairs of nations; but this little 
event of France's possessing herself of Louisiana, 
which is thrown in as nothing, as a mere makeweight 
in the general settlement of accounts — this speck which 
now appears as an almost invisible point in the horizon 
— is the embryo of a tornado which will burst on the 
countries on both sides of the Atlantic and involve in its 
effects their highest destinies. That it may yet be 
avoided is my sincere prayer; and if you can be the 
means of informing the wisdom of Bonaparte of all its 
consequences, you have deserved well of both conn- 
tries. 

Again, he writes to Governor Monroe, whom he sent 

as. ambassador extraordinary to act in conjunction with 

Mr. Livingston to try to settle this controversy : 

If we cannot by a purchase of the country insure to 
ourselves a course of perpetual peace and friendship 
with all nations, then, as war cannot be distant, it be- 
hooves us immediately to be preparing for that course, 
without, however, hastening it; and it may be neces- 
sary (on your failure on the Continent) to cross the 
Channel. 

Again, writing to Mr. Dupont on February i, 1803, 

speaking of the Mississippi river, for that is one of the 

points on which Mr. Jefferson asserted the right : 

For the occlusion of the Mississippi is a state of 
things in which we cannot exist. He (Monroe) goes, 
therefore, joined with Chancellor Livingston, to aid in 
the issue of a crisis the most important the United 



42G STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

States have ever met since their" independence, and 
which is to decide their future character and career. 

He uses that same language in his letter to President 
Monroe in 1823, that this is the most important subject 
the American people have ever considered since inde- 
pendence. One was to acquire it and the other to 
maintain it. Here is a question of such transcendent 
importance that the President of the United States in 
1802 sends an envoy extraordinary to act in conjunc- 
tion with the minister to France to impress upon Napo- 
leon Bonaparte, then rapidly ascending toward the 
zenith of that splendor and fame which he afterwards 
acquired — a monarch who presided over a country 
whose arms were at that time shaking down all the 
thrones in Europe — and Jefferson tells him if he per- 
sists in asserting the claim to the mouth of the Misis- 
sippi river, we will unite with the British people and 
the British nation and join together and sweep him off 
the face of the ocean; and he tells his ambassador, "In 
case you fail on the Continent, cross the channel and 
go to London," to that London where the marriage 
ceremony was to be celebrated — it was at London 
that the agreement of marriage was to be made and 
signed — "go to London, make the agreement between 
Great Britain and ourselves, and if necessary we will 
sweep the French fleets off the oceans of the earth in 
order to maintain the right we asserted to the mouth 



428 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

of the Mississippi river, notwithstanding- France had a 
perfect title to it" 

But what does this mean? Wherever there are 
rights there are duties. If it was our right to se- 
cure our people the free use of the Mississippi river, it 
was our duty to do it. In 1823, Mr. Monroe informed 
the Holy Alliance that we would not permit any Euro- 
pean power to interfere with the revolted Spanish 
provinces in this hemisphere. Why? Because our 
political institutions would be imperiled, and to se- 
cure the liberties of our people, monarchies and large 
standing armies must be interdicted in this hemis- 
phere. This hemisphere was dedicated by its people 
to liberty and representative government. Jefferson 
said the Spanish provinces had a right to be free, and 
we had the same right to aid them that "a strong man 
has to assist a weak one when assailed by a n >bber or a 
murderer." 

Why did we in 1865 send an army to the Rio Grande? 
The republic of Mexico had been invaded by a Euro- 
pean army, its republican government was overthrown, 
and an Austrian emperor had erected his throne upon 
the ruins. That act was an invasion of our rights as 
well as the rights of the Mexican people. And our 
army on the east bank of the Rio Grande was notice t< > 
all concerned that the empire was at an end in Mexic< 1. 
This bold movement was not prompted by mere sym- 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 429 

pathy for the people of Mexico, but by a regard for our 
own rights and the safety of our own people. 

Monarchies live by large standing armies. They do 
not consult the will of the people; they rule by force. 
If, then, a monarchy could be established in Mexico at 
our doors, supported by a standing army strong 
enough to suppress the public will, we could only main- 
tain our government here by an army of equal or su- 
perior strength, and when the American people estab- 
lish such an army to protect themselves against foreign 
invasion, they abandon the whole of their institutions 
and adopt the idea of the governments of Europe — a 
government of force. 

Why was it, just the other day, that the President of 
the United States, after having been for years trying t 
get the consent of England to negotiate the disputed 
question of boundary with the republic of Venezuela, 
said when that proposition was declined, that we would 
resist the absorption of that territory by Great Britain 
with all the means at our disposal, and made every Am- 
erican heart throb in response to that declaration? 
Why did he do it? Was it because we wanted to em- 
broil ourselves in a controversy about a strip of land 
in Venezuela? No ; but because the occupation of that 
territory might remotely affect the interests, the well- 
being and the safety of the people of the United States. 

Here at our doors is an island which our fathers 
called the kev to the Gulf of Mexico. It locks and un- 



430 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

locks the door to that great inland sea, whose waters 
wash the shores of five of our States. Into its basin the 
Mississippi river and all its tributaries pour their ac- 
cumulated floods. With that gulf open to the fleets of 
a great naval power, and its key in the hands of that 
power, not only would our immense commerce going 
down the Mississippi and gathered on the gulf shores 
be imperiled, but the lives and property of our peopl< 
would be subjected to the same danger. Cuba is not 
only the key that locks and unlocks that door, but it is 
the fortress that defends it. Mr. Jefferson thought 
that our system of States was not complete without the 
addition of Cuba. He said "he had ever looked on 
Cuba as the must interesting addition that could ever 
be made" to our Union. 

"The control," he said, "which, with Florida Foint, 
this island would give us over the Gulf of Mexico and 
the country and isthmus bordering on it, as well as all 
those whose waters flow into it, would fill up the meas- 
ure of our political well-being." His first interest was 
annexation; his second was the independence of Cuba; 
his third was that no country but Spain should ever ac- 
quire it. In writing to President Monroe in 1823, lit 
said: "We will oppose with all our means the forcible 
interposition of any other power or auxiliary, stipen- 
diary, or under any other form or pretext, and most es- 
pecially their transfer to any power by conquest, ces- 
sion or acquisition in any other way." 



STORY OF 8PAIX AXD CUBA. 431 

He was speaking of all the Spanish provinces in Am- 
erica, and the arguments applied with more force to 
Cuba than to all the rest together. Danger from Eu- 
ropean conquest of the extreme southern States of 
South America was only within the regions of possi- 
bility. Danger from the occupation of the northern 
States of South America or Central America was much 
more probable, but danger to us by such occupation o' 
Cuba would be constant, imminent and great. There- 
fore it has been the settled policy of our country, of all 
parties, at all times, that that all-important key shouV 
never pass out of the feeble hands of Spain to any other 
government except that of the United States. Jeffer- 
son, Gallatin, Adams, Clay, Van Buren, Forsyth, Web 
ster, Crittenden, Buchanan and Marcy have all de 
clared the same doctrine. Many of our statesmen have 
advocated its annexation, many have opposed it, but all 
have agreed as with one voice that it should never go 
from Spain to any power except the United States. We 
have made the world understand that we would resist 
the transfer of that island with the whole armed power 
of the United States. We have so held for a hundred 
years, and we are ready today to redeem that pledge if 
any European power thinks proper to put us to the 
test. 

Now I come to the point. If to protect our lives, 
our liberty, our institutions, our homes and families we 
have the right to control the destinies of the island of 



432 STORY OF sl'M\ AND CUBA. 

Cuba, and if in the exercise of these rights we have fixei' 
the destinies of the people of Cuba and delivered them 
forever into the hands of Spain, have we not assumed 
the duty of seeing that the lives, the liberties, the homes 
and families of Cuba are protected by Spain? We 
have denied to Cuba the right to better her condition 
by a change of connection. We claim the right for 
ourselves t< i institute such government as we may think 
most conducive to our happiness, but we deny that 
right to Cuba. If England should offer to take Cuba 
from under the despotism of Spain ami give to her pei < 
pie the mild government she gives to Canada, we say, 
"You shall not go." If today the insurgents should 
abandon all hope of help from us and enter into nego- 
tiation with England, and England should stipulate 
with them that they should have a home government, 
with legislative, executive and judiciary branches 
chosen by the pet >ple of Cuba, with the power to lay and 
collect their own taxes, and that all her revenues should 
be expended at home, that England would only exer- 
cise the nominal sovereignty over Cuba that she does 
over Canada, do we not all know that the United States 
would forbid the contract, and, like a jailer, stand at 
the door of the Spanish dungeon and bid poor Cuba 
go back to the companionship of her chains? 

If we have kept Cuba from going to France, if we 
have kept Cuba from going to England— and we have 
— and no man is so blind as not to know that within the 




A NARROW STREET AND CATHEDRAL. 



434 STORY OF SPA1X ASD CU&A. 

last one hundred years, if it had not been for the people 
of the United States asserting the superior right to con- 
trol the destinies of that island, either England or 
France would have had it, and given it a better govern- 
ment than it has, and yet we have stood still and said : 
"You shall not go." If we intend to keep them within 
the sovereignty of Spain, is it not our moral duty to 
protect them and see that they are not destroyed by the 
government into whose hands we commit them? 

I say again, that wherever there are rights there are 
corresponding duties, and I say the people of the 
United States owe it to the oppressed and downtrodden 
people of Cuba to say to Spain : "The time has come 
when you must take your heel off the necks of the peo- 
ple of Cuba. We are responsible for their slavery ; we 
are responsible for the despotism in that island; we are 
responsible for every drop of blood that you shed; we 
are responsible for every dollar's worth of property that 
your mercenaries have stolen ; our consciences and our 
character as a people are involved in this crime. Cuba 
has a right to appeal to us, and we intend that you shall 
give her just government." 

************* 
The day will come when the American conscience 
will again be quickened. The day will come when this 
mighty people will see and feel that the guilt for the 
wrongs and oppressions of the people of Cuba is upor 
their hands and souls. When it comes, and come it 



STOKY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 435 

will, and come it must, the nation will arouse itself like 
a strong man after sleep, and it will fill these seats with 
Senators and the seats of the other House with mem- 
bers who will say to Spain: "Give to these people just 
government, or we will." 

What sort of a government does Spain give to Cuba: 
The taxation imposed, not by the people of Cuba, but 
by the people of Spain, takes from the people of Oil. 
nearly $50,000,000 a year. Have you stopped to in- 
quire what a monstrous iniquity this is? The wholo 
annual produce of all the labor in Cuba does not ex- 
ceed $250,000,000, and one-fifth of that is taken every 
year by Spain. These immense exactions are extorted 
from the people of Cuba to pay the army that crushes 
out their life on the land, and the navy that guards the 
shores so that no relief can come and no victim escape. 

In a very able article in one of the leading papers of 
Texas, I see the different items of expenditure given, 
and the sum total is $48,000,000 in one year; and yet! 
there are comparatively no schools; 75 per cent, of the 
entire population can neither read nor write. There 
are no roads, bridges, or ferries; no public buildings: 
nothing but despotism and desolation, and that by the 
authority of the United States! Besides the enormous 
and exhausting taxation, the plunder of the people is 
without a paraflel in history. One of the prominent 
Spanish officers now in Cuba with a military commanc 
said in the Congress of Deputies, March 2, 1890, that 



436 8T0R7 OF si'MX \\l> CUBA. 

the frauds, thefts and misappropriations of money by 
the officers sent out from Spain to govern Cuba 
amounted to $40,000,000! Forty millions wrung from 
a million and one-half of people is a monumental rob- 
bery. Taxes by duties on imports are levied in Spain 
for Cuba, and levied so as to enrich not the Cubans, but 
the Spaniards in Spain. The tax on flour is levied 
enormously high to keep out the flour of the United 
States and compel Cubans to import Spanish flour, and 
on that was so high a duty that bread costs twenty-five 
cents a pound. And the starving people complain to 
us that bread is a luxury in Cuba, and yet we say that 
Cuba shall not leave Spain! Why should not the peo- 
ple of Cuba have a government of their own? Why 
should not the question of taxation be placed in tht 
hands of representatives of the people who pay the 
taxes? 

For what did our fathers tight in 1776? One of our 
greatest statesmen has said that our Revolution was 
fought on a preamble. We had suffered no despi >tism. 
We declared that taxation and representation shoul 
go together. Such has been our fundamental prin- 
ciple ever since. The taxpayers, through their repre 
sentatives, must vote the taxes under our governmenl 
But under the despotic barbarism we have forced on 
the people of Cuba the amount of taxes is prescribed b\ 
the tax receiver. It was said here the other day th; t 
Cuba had thirty representatives in the Cortes of Spain. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 437 

while Spain has 700 representatives. How are these 
thirty so-called representatives chosen? Twenty thou- 
sand Spanish merchants and manufacturers in Cube) 
elect twenty-seven representatives, while 90,000 Cuban 
farmers elect three representatives, and several hun- 
drd thousand Cuban male adults are disfranchised. But 
if the Cuban people elected the whole thirty, what pro- 
tection would that give to Cuban taxpayers in a body 
of more than 700 Spanish representatives? What they 
require for their protection is a government of Cubans 
for Cuba. No power has the right to impose taxes on 
the people of Cuba but themselves. Spanish taxation 
for Cuba makes flour so dear that Cubans only con- 
sume fifty-four pounds per head per year, while Span- 
ish taxation on the Spanish people in Spain is so lighfi 
that in Spain the people consume 400 pounds per head 
per year. If the people wish to meet and humbly pe- 
tition the military commander who has them in his 
keeping for more bread or for more mercy, they must 
first obtain a permit. Without it no meeting can be 
held, and even with it under the supervision of a deputy 
sent by the commander. 

And we are guarding the brutal monsters while they 
are carrying on their iniquity. 

I want to call the attention of the American people 
to some of the enormities committed by Spanish offi- 
cials in their treatment of the people of Cuba. In the 
former revolution, from 1868 to 1878, the conduct ol 



438 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

Spain was precisely what it is now. On the 4th of 
April, 1869, Valmaseda issued an order, from which I 
read the following items : 

First. Every man from the age of fifteen years up- 
ward found out of his house who cannot give a good 
reason for it will be shot. 

Second. Every unoccupied house will be burned by 
the troops. 

Third. Every house without a white flag, which is 
the signal that its inhabitants desire peace, will be re- 
duced to ashes. 

Women that are not living at their homes or at the 
houses of their relatives will be gathered either at the 
town of Jiguaini or in that of Bayamo, where food will 
be provided for them. Those who do not present 
themselves will be brought by force. 

When Mr. Fish, our Secretary of State, read the bru- 
tal order, he wrote to the Spanish minister at Washing- 
ton: "In the interest of Christian civilization and com- 
mon humanity, I hope that this document is a forgery." 
But it was not. It was genuine. This exterminating 
policy was continued, and in 1871 President Grant said 
to the same minister that the "atrocities" inflicted in 
Cuba had turned the whole country against Spain to 
such a degree that the people were scarcely capable of 
judging impartially any longer. But all such remon- 
strances were lost on Spain. One of her captains of 
volunteers says in one of his reports: 

More than 300 spies and conspirators are shot 
monthly in this jurisdiction. Myself alone, with my 
company, have already killed nine, and I will never be 
weary of killing. 



440 STORY OF SPAIN AXD CUBA. 

Another captain of volunteers reports: 

We have captured seventeen, thirteen of whom were 
shot outright. ( hi dying, they shouted, "Hurrah for 
free Cuba! Hurrah for independence!" * * * On 
the following day, we killed a Cuban officer and an- 
other man. Among the thirteen we shot the first day 
were found three sons and their fathers; the fathers 
witnessed the execution of their sons without even 
changing color, and when their turn came, they said 
they died for the independence of their country. 

In a letter of one of the officers of the Spanish army, 

he says : 

Not a single Cuban will remain on this island, be- 
cause we shoot all those we find in the fields, on their 
farms and in every hovel. * * * We do not leave 
a creature alive where we pass, be it man or animal. If 
we find cows, we kill them; if horses, ditto; if hogs, 
ditto; men, women or children, ditto. As to the 
houses, we burn them. So everyone receives what he 
deserves — the men with bullets, the animals with the 
bayonet. The island will remain a desert. 

During that revolution, a Spanish newspaper in Bar- 
celona published the following proceedings of a mili- 
tary tribunal in Cuba: 

General Staff of the Captain-Generalship of the Island 

of Cuba: 

The court-martial sitting at this place on this day, 
with the object of examining and passing an opinion 
about the process against the civilian Jose Valder No- 
dorce, who uttered seditious words, has condemned 
him to six years' hard labor and with irons, and his ex- 
cellency, in hearing the opinion of the auditor, has -Ap- 
proved the judgment, but not without remarking his 
great mildness, because it is not in accord with regula- 
tions, codes and existing laws, and for that reason he 



STORY OF SPAIX AND CUBA. 441 

has ordered that the president and members of the mili- 
tary court be sent to a castle for two months as a pun- 
ishment for it. 

Published by order of his excellency. 

Six years at hard labor for uttering seditious words 
was a punishment so mild that the court was sentenced 
to two months' confinement as a punishment for their 
clemency! And this almost within sight of our shores, 
and backed by the authority of the United States! 1 
read another extract. It is given to the public by Mr 
Quesada, the representative of the Cuban people here 
He is a gentleman whose veracity is not questioned 
Here is an incident of that war as related by him: 

During the last war General Weyler did not distin- 
guish himself by military exploits. As a soldier, he 
was an obscure commander of a column. His opera- 
tions were in the territories of Camaguey and Tunis. 
His reputation is based on his atrocities. "The dance 
at Guaimaro" is famous in Puerto Principe. He cap- 
tured a number of ladies of the best society of this prov- 
ince. They were taken to the village of Guaimaro. 
Around a large bonfire in the centre of the public 
square he placed the defenseless women. The fero- 
cious hordes of negroes who composed the Fourth 
Company of his command were ordered to violently 
undress the prisoners. Then they played an African 
dance, and the unfortunate Cubans who refused to par- 
ticipate were whipped by Weyler himself! 

But even worse than the foregoing was the crime 
committed by Weyler on Senorita Romero. She was 
captured with her mother. Weyler ordered the lptter 
to propose to her daughter the sacrifice to him of her 
honor and virtue. The distracted mother, under threats 
of death, entreated in vain with the voung woman. 



442 STORY OF N/'.l/A AND CUBA. 

Colonel Weyler offered this dilemma: The senorita 
must choose between him and the black soldiers of the 
already famous and sadly celebrated Fourth Company. 
Senorita Romero did not vacillate. She indignantly 
exclaimed: "Between you, monster, and the Fourth 
( Company I do not hesitate. Give me up to the Fourth 
Company!" Can Mr. Dupuy de Lome or Weyler 
deny this when Cruz solemnly declares: "In 1889, in a 
house at Nuevitas, thin and emaciated as a specter, her 
hair white, a complete wreck, an idiot, I saw the sad 
victim of that infamy!" 

How proud we must be as American citizens to 
stand guard over that atrocious villain who is again in 
Cuba in his work of death and desolation, but who 
would not be there today if the United States would 
draw her sword, as it is her duty to do. If we will not 
permit England, France or Germany to extricate these 
wretched and persecuted people from the clutches of 
Spain, our honor demands that we shall do it ourselves. 
With what lofty pride our American mothers, wives 
and daughters must look upon the enrapturing scene 
of a Spanish bullfighter at the head of a horde of armed 
brigands demanding of a helpless, innocent girl to de- 
cide between her life and her honor! How their eyes 
must burn with onwonted brightness and their cheekf 
suffuse with glow and gratified pride when they look on 
Weyler, with the Stars and Stripes above his head and 
falling in rich folds around his shoulders, and the royal 
bird of Jove fanning his cheeks with the feathers of his 
outstretched wings, while he bids an innocent girl to 
choose between his and the embraces of his brutal 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 443 

minions. How proud must all our men be, sons of the 
sires who hung that standard in the storms of a hun- 
dred battles, who saw it ride in triumph on lands and 
lakes and oceans, and never once did the smell of the 
stain of dishonor rest within its folds, now see it guard- 
ing the wretch who slaughters unarmed men, violates 
unprotected women, and gives their homes to the 
names and their flesh to the eagles. Oh, Columbia, 
gem of the ocean, your children have boasted of their 
civilization, their freedom, their prowess! How is the 
mighty fallen, the strong staff broken and the beautifu 1 
rod! Columbia, the mighty God who called thee out 
of the deep, placed in your hands the burning brand to 
enlighten the world and lead its downtrodden human- 
ity to higher and better altitudes. You were never in- 
tended for a jailer. Your fair waist was never de- 
signed to be encircled by the belt of a Spanish bull- 
fighter, nor your fair hands to carry the keys of Spanish 
dungeons, where victims of despotism were loaded with 
chains because, taught by your precepts and example, 
they aspired to climb to the mountain tops where you 
stood. 

I feel as an American citizen. There is not a drop 
of Spanish blood in my veins. I speak for liberty, I 
speak for the right, and I feel and speak for the honor 
of my country. We hold Cuba in vassalage to Spain. 
For a hundred years we have declared, and reiterated 
the declaration, that Cuba shall stay under the domin- 



444 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

ion of Spain. We have shut in her face the door o! 
hope for release from that despotism, and, having the 
responsibility which even an equitable right would 
give, we should demand of Spain that just government' 
should be given to Cuba. If necessary, we should en- 
force the demand with the whole military strength oJ 
the nation. Suppose the suffering people of Cuba 
should say to us: "You have forsaken us; we have ap- 
pealed to you time and again. Every generation thai 
has come from the womb has appealed to yon, and gone 
down to the grave marked by Spanish blood and dis- 
honor. So farewell; we are going now to appeal to 
England; she will give us the mild government she 
gives to Canada. She will let us govern ourselves in 
all our domestic affairs — she will let us raise what taxes 
we are willing to pay and expend our revenues on edu- 
cating our children and building up our country, and 
protect us against invasion from Spain or any other 
power." What would be our response? What has 
for a centurv been our response? Columbia would 
come out with her mighty heart throbbing, her flagr 
flying and her drums beating, and answer in tones o\ 
thunder: "England shall not assume sovereign rights 
over one square foot of Cuba. We will see that Spain 
keeps Cuba against all the world except ourselves." 
Then if we have fixed the destiny of Cuba, we owe it to 
our own honor, we owe it to humanity, to protect the 



440 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

wretched and misgoverned people of that island against 
Spanish barbarity. 

The other day 1 read in the press dispatches from 
Cuba where a Spanish column, after having an engage- 
ment with the troops under Maceo's command, at- 
tacked a house where a father, a daughter and an in- 
fant were sheltered. The father stepped out with his 
child in his arms, and cried, "Stop firing; we are peace 
ful citizens;" but they drew nearer, took deadlier aim. 
shot to death the father and the child. The daughter 
sprang forward to protect her wounded father and to 
plead for her own life. The appeal was answered by 
shots from the rifles and thrusts from their bayonets, 
and the girl fell on the dead body of her father and 
brother, riddled with bullets and gashed with bayonets 
This is the kind of government Spain is giving to Cuba. 
It is the protection that the hawk gives to the dove, the 
panther to the hind. And all this is by the authority <>? 
the United States! We stand guard over Spain while 
she tears Cuba limb from limb, while the victim is cry- 
ing to us to deliver her from the jaws of the monster. 

While thinking of the slaughter of this girl who at- 
tempted to save her father, there comes up in my mind 
the recollection of an incident that occurred in Ala- 
bama during our civil war. A colonel of an Ohio regi- 
ment was in command of a district in North Alabama 
within whose lines the family of a Confederate officer 
resided. Sometimes the bold rebel would slip through 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 447 

the lines undiscovered and visit his family. On one 
occasion he was discovered by some one more devoted 
to the Union than to his personal welfare. Informa- 
tion was given to the colonel commanding the district, 
who took a half-dozen of his men, and under cover of 
night went to the house to capture his Confederate foe- 
man. Arriving at the house, he rushed in the door, 
pistol in hand, and found the Confederate soldier in th« 
midst of his family, his pistol and belt lying upon the 
bureau and within reach of his daughter, a beautiful 
Confederate girl of eighteen summers. In an instant 
she grasped her father's pistol to shoot in defense of her 
father's person. The colonel sprang forward, seized 
the pistol in her hand to disarm her. Not being a 
Spaniard, it never entered his mind to shoot her. In 
the struggle, her pistol fired, and she was shot through 
the hand, but her father succeeded in making his es- 
cape. The gallant officer returned in a few days to see 
about that wounded hand. He came again to express 
his profound regrets for that wound, and again and 
again to hope for its early recovery. He did not stop 
coming till he carried that hand off with him and 
clasped it in his. It is his hand now and has been for 
thirty years. Around that family hearthstone thera 
stands a group of noble sons, half Yankee, half rebel, 
but all Americans. We did not shoot women and chil- 
dren. We did not shoot prisoners in our great civil 
war. 



448 STORY OF SPA IX AND CUBA. 

In my own good State of Texas — a State that drank 
of the cup of Spanish barbarity to the dregs in its early 
history — there occurred during our civil war another 
incident that shows the difference between Spanish and 
Anglo-Saxon civilization. The island of Galvestoi, 
had been occupied by the troops of the United States 
and the Harriet Lane, a United States man-of-war, laid 
at her wharf. The officer in command of the Depart- 
ment of Texas at Houston got one or two old steam- 
boats that were laid up out of reach of the enemy, put 
cotton bales around them, and mounted on them such 
guns as he could procure, ami moved down to attack 
the enemy's navy with his, and at the same time threw 
troops across the bridge on the island and attacked and 
captured the garrison; at the same time, with his im- 
provised fleet, he attacked, boarded and captured the 
Harriet Lane. Young Lea, the commander of the 
Harriet Lane, fought gallantly, and fell on the quarter- 
deck of his vessel, vainly struggling to hold it. When 
the battle was over, we did not cut off his head and 
stick it on a pole and parade the streets with it as the 
Spaniards did their victims in Cuba. Gentle hands 
shrouded the young soldier. He was taken to the 
cemetery where the fathers of the city slept. His re- 
mains were followed to the grave by the whole people 
His father read the burial service of the church, to 
which they both belonged and into which the young 
officer had been baptized when a child in his father'' 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 449 

arms. We laid him in a hero's grave, we covered hin 
with flowers that were wet with the tears of kindred 
and friends, and left him alone in his glory. Never in 
that great conflict, where more than 2,000,000 of men 
were engaged for four years in the most desperate 
struergrle that ever occurred in the annals of mankind, 

C5C5 

did either side ever commit one such act of cruelty as b 
now being enacted every day in Cuba. 

This is the same old story. I could read you in- 
stance after instance of barbarism in Cuba; but it 
would be but the repetition of Spanish history — the 
same old story that we have heard from the days of 
Charles V, when the printing press came and light be- 
gan to diffuse itself and knowledge began to be gath- 
ered and stored. Spain tried to crush it out and ex- 
tinguish the light by military violence. You all re- 
member the history of Luther, who began the Refor- 
mation by teaching the Germans that justification came 
by faith. Charles V had him summoned to Worms to 
answer to him for this mortal offense. He presided 
over that august assembly, then the most powerful 
monarch on the globe. He called on Luther to retract 
his heresies, which he refused to do, saying he would 
only retract when his judgment was convinced by 
reason. 

We all remember the history of the poor Nether- 
lands. They had recovered their land from the sea by 
building dikes, and the Spaniards overflowed their 



450 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

lands with blood as the sea had theretofore done by 
water. Finding it almost hopeless to contend against 
them and to save their country from the butchery, tor- 
ture and flame of the Spaniard, the}' stood upon the 
dikes, spade in hand, and said: "If you continue this 
persecution, if we cannot live in this country, we will 
cut these dikes and bring back again the sea over us 
all, and, vanquished and victor, we will go together to 
the throne of ( rod to plead our cause." 

What was the history of Spain in her American 
provinces? I >id her treatment of her subjects change? 
We were boys once; our heads are now gray; but I 
can remember when I was a boy reading a little poem 
and perhaps reciting it at school: 

When Cortez came with sword and flame, 
With one fell blow proud Mexico, 
Was humbled t<> the dust. 

Sword and flame! Xot the flame of the intellect, 
not the flame of truth, not the flame of knowledge, not! 
enlightenment and elevation of character, but the 
flame of fire that extinguishes and burns the fagots be- 
neath the feet of victims. 

She desolated Mexico under Cortez, Peru under 
Tizarro, and when, in vain, after a long tenure she 
found herself utterly incapable of holding those prov- 
inces, and when the United States stood with a brand- 
ished and flaming sword and said to all Europe, "You 
shall not interfere to help Spain recover them," then 



452 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

the whole power of her concentrated despotism fell 
upon poor Cuba. In 1825, an order or decree issued 
from the government of Spain appointing a governor 
for Cuba and giving him all the powers of a governor 
of a besieged city. Martial law was given to Cuba in 
1825, and martial law has been the inheritance of poor 
Cuba from 1825 to 1895. For threescore and ten 
years that prostrate island has been crushed, bleeding, 
starving, rising in insurrection, the people lifting theii' 
appeal to God to smile on their cause and give them 
deliverance, and appealing to the United States for help. 
And yet at every moment of that time we have stood 
upon the dark doorways to Spanish dungeons with 
American bayonets and American flags flying over 
them, refusing them succor, and yet holding them in 
subjection to Spain. 

We have a duty, a holy duty, and if we think God will 
not call us to account for the manner in which we have 
refused to discharge that duty t< > those people, we must 
believe that there are crimes and sins that can be per- 
petrated in this world which can go without an atoning 
sacrifice. The blood of innocence and the demands of 
justice will speak after a while. He who sees the spar- 
row fall will open the eyes that never sleep. He will 
open the ears that are never deaf. He will treasure up 
the wrongs of Cuba, and after a while — 

Eternal justice wakes, and in their turn 

The vanquished triumph and the victors mourn. 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 453 

We have had something to do with Spanish history 
in the State of which I am a citizen and where I have 
lived since a boy. We have gone through all of this 
history. After 1824, when Mexico had achieved her 
independence and made her free constitution, copying 
closely that of the United States, a Spanish dictator, 
Santa Anna, trod that constitution beneath his feet. 
With his armed soldiery, he marched over Mexico, 
beat down her armies — for he was a military genius — 
and not only captured them, but butchered them, and 
not only butchered them, but went to the cities that, 
sympathized with the republican government of Mex- 
ico and butchered men, women and children. 

In 1836, he came to Texas on his mission of death. 
He came with a sword of flame, as Cortez had gone to 
Mexico in 1525, but he found a different kind of ma- 
terial from that which Cortez had to contend. For a 
while, fortune seemed to smile on him. He entered 
San Antonio and stormed and took the little garrison 
in the Alamo, and put to the sword every living thing 
within its walls except one woman and one little female 
child. They, too, would have been slain, but they were 
covered by the dead bodies of the soldiers who had fal- 
len in defense of the garrison. True to Spanish in- 
stinct, Santa Anna went about among the bodies of the 
slain and sent his dagger to the hilt in the bosoms of its 
heroes. From San Antonio, flushed with victory, on 
the 6th of March, 1836, the invaders went to Goliad. 



i54 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

On his way, he encountered Fannin, with a handful of 
brave men from Texas, Georgia and Alabama. Though 
far inferior in number, they challenged his advance, 
and beat him till their ammunition was exhausted, and 
then capitulated. They were to be sent back home to 
( Georgia and Alabama. But on Sunday, the 27th of 
March, when the Sabbath bells were ringing all over 
the home land, when friends and loved ones in that 
home were wending their way to their places of wor- 
ship, the Spaniard was conducting his victims to the 
place of slaughter. 

The little band under Shackelford were young men 
from Alabama. An old soldier of the republic of Texas 
told me many years ago the story of that massacre as it 
was given to him by Shackelford himself. He said he 
was a practicing physician in Alabama, and determined 
to raise some men and go and help Texas. His son 
was in his party, and his patrons and friends gave him 
their sons upon the condition that he would treat them 
as he treated his own son. He accepted the trust. 
When the battle was fought and lost, Shackelford, who 
was a skillful surgeon, attended the wounded Mexicans 
and rendered to them valuable services. For this he 
was informed that he could have the life of his son ; all 
the others would be shot. He went to his son and said : 
"I have accepted all your comrades upon the terms that 
I would treat each of them as I would treat my own 
son. Your comrades are ordered to be shot. Your 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 455 

life is offered to me, but I cannot accept it without be- 
traying my word. I will leave it to you to decide for 
yourself." The gallant young hero instantly spurned 
the proposition, and said he would die with his com- 
rades. They were all young men of education. Many 
of them played well upon musical instruments, and all 
sang. Before the fatal order was executed, they took 
their harps, violins and flutes, some played and others 
sang that sad but soul-stirring song of John Howard 
Payne : 

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam. 

Be it ever so humble, there's n<> place like home; 

A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there, 

Which sought through the world is ne'er met with elsewhere. 

In a few moments more, their voices were still and 
their harps were songless and silent. At last they were 
all at home — not the homes they had left in Alabama 
and Georgia, and to which the Spaniard had promised 
they should soon return, but they were at that far-away 
home "where the wicked cease from troubling and the 
weary are at rest." 

After the slaughter, there bodies were gathered in 
funeral piles, covered with brush and set on fire, and 
wolves and dogs and hogs fed upon such as the fire had 
failed to consume. On to the east the victors pushed 
their columns, till on the 21st of April the last hope of 
Texas, an army of 783 men. stood with their back 
against the San Jacinto river. It was the last intrench- 



456 UTOIx'l OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

meiu of liberty, and that day was to decide whether it 
was to be the birth or burial of the republic. To enter 
the arena where Texas waited him, he had to cross a 
stream spanned by a bridge, which, when crossed, 
Houston had destroyed behind him, so that there was 
no escape for either army. Excelling Houston more 
than two to one, he was confident of victory, and as the 
sun passed the meridian he laid down to enjoy his siesta 
and dreams of ultimate victory and the slaughter of the 
vanquished. While he was sleeping, gently sleeping, 
the soft Southern winds passing over vast fields of 
flowers drank up their odors and poured their rich per- 
fumes through his camp; the feathered choristers of 
bright plumage sang in the branches of the evergreen 
oaks that bent over him. While he slept, Houston 
moved cautiously among his devoted braves, told them 
the bridge was gone, then "Be men, be freemen, that 
your children may praise their father's name. Re- 
member the Alamo!" At 3 o'clock in the evening, he 
moved forward to the battle. . As he was advancing, 
he told the musicians to play a piece that he named — ■ 
a piece that he thought suitable to the occasion and in 
harmony with their feelings. * * * 

It was a Texan army, as brave, as determined, as 
patriotic as the gray-bearded grenadiers that carried 
the victorious lilies of France from the Pillars of Her- 
cules on the west to the mountains of Judea on the east, 
and from the pyramids of Egypt on the south to the 



158 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

snow-covered steppes of Russia on the north The oc- 
casion demanded not the s< >n< >r< >us blast of the trumpet, 
but the soft, sweet notes of the lute. The song they 
sang was a warm, cordial invitation : 

Will you come to the bower I have shaded for you? 
Your bed shall be roses all spangled with dew. 

They came, and a great many of them are there yet. 
When the battle was over, one-half of the enemy were 
dead on the field and the other prisoners begging for 
that mercy they never gave but received from those 
whose homes they bad destroyed and Whose comrades 
they had put to the sword. When the sun set on that 
eventful day and the stars began to light their lamps in 
the skies, lo! in the southwestern heavens there ap- 
peared one that moved forward, till it stood over the 
field of San Jacinto and burned on with ever-increasing 
brilliancy as the representative of the new-born repub- 
lic of Texas. 

When I came to Congress in 1873, twenty-three 
years ago, before I was sworn in I read the news of the 
capture of the steamer Yirginius and the butchery of 
fifty-three of the persons taken on her decks. The 
vessel had been engaged in carrying arms and supplies 
to the insurrectionists in Cuba. She was regularly 
documented as a vessel of the United States. Over her 
decks floated the flag of the United States. Everyone 
on the boat was entitled to the protection of the laws of 



STORT OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 459 

the United States. She was run down on the high seas 
and captured by a Spanish armed vessel and carried 
into Santiago on the 3d of November, 1873. At 6 
o'clock next morning four of her passengers were shot. 
An officer of the British schooner Brilliante, who wit- 
nessed the execution, says: 

The executioners demanded that these victims 
should kneel and be shot in the back. Two of them so 
knelt and were so shot. The other two, Verona and 
Ryan, refused to kneel, and were thrown down and 
handcuffed while begging their executioners to let 
them die standing. A Spanish officer stepped forward 
and thrust his sword through Ryan's heart. Verona 
died easily. Then down upon their corpses, still warm 
with life, came the bloodthirsty mob, severing their 
heads from their bodies, placing them on pikes and 
marching with them through the city. 

Forty-nine others were shot to death on the 7th and 
8th of November. And the great achievement was 
celebrated with bonfires and bullfights over the island. 
Ryan was a gallant Union soldier from New York. 
Frye, the captain of the vessel, was a Confederate from 
Louisiana. These fifty-three persons on the decks of 
an American vessel were tried at night before a military 
tribunal. They were not permitted to be present and 
defend themselves. They had violated no law of Spain 
Reverdy Johnson, one of the ablest lawyers in the 
United States, said: 

Her capture was as gross a disregard of the authority 
of the United States as if the Tornado had seized her in 
the harbor of New York. If he said the vessel had vio- 



460 STORY OF SPAIN AND CI BA. 

lated the neutrality laws of the United States, Spain 
could take no cognizance of it. 

The United States alone could do that, but the 
United States did nothing but enter into a long diplo- 
matic correspondence, and came out of the controversy 
covered with disgrace. Frye was refused permission 
to apply to the United States consul for the protection 
of the men on his boat. When they were marched to 
execution, they were carried past the United States 
consul's office — his flag not even flying. He did not 
dare to put it up, and Ins doomed fellow-countrymen 
bowed their heads to the bare flagstaff and "waived a 
mournful good-bye." 

After Frye was condemned, they for the first time 
permitted him to come before the military tribunal. 
He asked permission to go, not to plead for his life, but 
for the lives of some of Ins crew. In that appeal, he 
says : 

I do not come here to plead for my own life. You 
have condemned me. I do not ask you for my life. 

It has been notorious that a great number of vessels 
were engaged in it [blockade running] during the Am- 
erican war, and notwithstanding many prizes were taken 
not a single life was sacrificed. 

What a high tribute this to the Union army and to 

the Union people by a Confederate soldier! A citizen 

of Louisiana, a Confederate, says to the Spaniards: 

The country against which I fought and the people 
against whom I fought, the country that triumphed 
over me, never perpetrated in one single instance what 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 401 

you do in every instance. On the contrary, the greater 
part of the prisoners were liberated after a short impris- 
onment. 

Of the law in Cuba and the proclamation referring 
to the introduction of arms into Cuba I had not heard 
until the night of my conviction. If with superior op- 
portunities I was ignorant of a case decided by other 
than international law, how completely ignorant should 
be these poor people? I was continually in the com- 
pany of persons who ought to have known it, yet the 
fact was never once alluded to. In a word, I believe 
that they were ignorant, and that the world will be 
grievously surprised to know that their lives are sacri- 
ficed. The council well know that I am not pleading 
for my life; I have neither home nor country — a victim 
of war and persecution — I being shut out from the 
road to prosperity until I am unable to provide bread 
for my wife and seven children, who know what 
it is to suffer from the vicissitudes of my life. My life 
is one of suffering, and it is not for myself that I im- 
plore. 

Spaniards, as I believe I am the only one who will 
die in the embrace of our holy religion, consider the 
souls of these poor people. Give them time and op- 
portunity to seek the mercy of God. Thus only can 
you comply with your duty, and my blood ought to be 
sufficient. These poor men had no knowledge of their 
crime. 

Was not that a magnificent appeal to make? He- 
roic and noble, he refused to ask from those blood v 
butchers his own life. He had violated no law for 
which they could punish him, and, as he said, no one in 
our great conflict had ever been punished for running 
a blockade. The vessel would be condemned as a 



462 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

prize, the property would be taken, but the people that 
were on it would be treated as prisoners in civilized war. 

But the Spaniards did not turn any loose. They 
butchered all of them. Our consul, when he found the 
boat had come in, interceded with the butcher Burriel. 
I perhaps ought to ask pardon from some of our people 
who think that I am too harsh in speaking of this 
"proud and sensitive people." Here was a butcher, 
and as soon as the vessel came in the American consul 
asked permission of Burriel to see his countrymen be- 
fore anything was done. He sent a dispatch to the 
consul at Jamaica, informing him of these facts, and 
Burriel, the general in command, suppressed it, and 
admits that he suppressed it, and would not permit it 
to go until those people were all tried and slaughtered. 

************ * 

What did the American people do about that? Ev- 
er) body knows very well that Spain had no right t( i 
stop that vessel on the high seas. General Grant said 
so. General Grant's cabinet said so in 1871 when the 
question was brought before them whether the people 
of the United States had not a right to ship arms and 
munitions of war to insurgents anywhere. It was a 
matter that was referred to the cabinet. 

It was unanimously decided by his whole cabinet that 
no nation had a right to arrest that vessel on the high 
seas. Neither Spain nor any other country on the face 
of the earth could go behind the papers that accredited 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 463 

the vessel; that they were conclusive; it was American 
soil, and American authority granted the right of se- 
curity to everyone on its decks. And yet I say, with 
shame, that we permitted that butchery to go almost 
unchallenged. There was a long list of correspond- 
ence, amounting to some hundred or two papers, back 
and forth, and a little milk-and-water agreement be- 
tween Mr. Fish and Mr. Barnaby, the minister of Spain, 
that the guilty party should be brought to justice and 
tried. They had a tribunal arranged in Spain to try 
Burriel, and after a long correspondence running 
through three or four years, the government of the 
United States was notified that the tribunal was organ- 
ized, that it took jurisdiction, and that the government 
of Spain could do no more. The court could do with 
him as they please. The result was, Burriel died a 
natural death and was never brought to trial at all. 
And for fifty-three people butchered on the decks of 
that vessel, rightfully claiming the protection of the 
United States, the great body of them American citi- 
zens, after a long controversy Spain paid $77,000, about 
$1500 apiece. 

Now, look upon this picture and upon this, Hy- 
perion to a satyr. At Salonica, in 1876, while this cor- 
respondence was going on, a Greek girl was taken from 
some Mussulmans. The German consul and the 
French consul rushed into the street where there was a 
mob attempting to carry her away, to plead for the girl 



464 'STORY <>/ sl'M\ VND CUBA. 

and protect her if possible. They were cut down and 
stabbed to death in the streets. The Turkish govern- 
ment, without waiting for any invitation from Ger- 
many or France, telegraphed over the wires that they 
would punish those people, that it was unauthorized, 
and offered to do everything. 

Did France enter into a long correspondence run- 
ning through five or six years? Did Germany do it? 
They did not even deign to answer the telegram, but 
each one ordered its fleets to Salonica, landed its ma- 
rines on the shore, and compelled the government of 
Turkey to bring the guilty wretches before them, and 
under the muzzles of their guns they shot to death six 
of these perpetrators, and then said: "Fay $100,000 to 
the family of each one of these persons and I leave you," 
and it was done. 

That brings me to the last question to consider in 
this case. Why is it that in the latter years of our gov- 
ernment every time we attempt to maintain the honor, 
the dignity and the respect of our people, some tre- 
mendous power commences to manifest itself in secret 
and in quiet, and we hear all sorts of objections except 
the real one? In the revolution of 1868-1878, they 
said that Spain had just thrown off the monarchy and 
bloomed out into a republic, and we will do great dam- 
age to republican government — such as we have insti- 
tuted in this country is felt all over the world — if we 
talk plainly to Spain. "Remember," they said before, 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 465 

"Castellar is very proud and sensitive. Do not wound 
his feelings." 

The blood of our citizens butchered by Spain is cry- 
ing from the earth to us, and I for one am for calling 
her to account, and if her pride is wounded by our de- 
mand for proper treatment from her, she may fret till 
her proud heart breaks. 

We hear now the same old plea. Spain is even vindi- 
cated here. With the atrocities of 300 years piled up 
against her, her cause is espoused and boldly defended. 
We are told that the insurgents are ungrateful to Spain. 
When generation after generation of Cubans have been 
sent to bloody graves by her hand it is ungrateful even 
to remonstrate. 

It is our duty to protect those people, or say to Eng- 
land, France, Russia and any others: "If you want that 
island, take it; we have nothing to say about it." But 
as long as we say to all the earth, "You shall not touch 
it ; it belongs to Spain, and we will keep it in the hands 
of Spain," then I say that an awful load of guilt is rolled 
upon our souls, and we, to whom the honor of our 
country and our people are entrusted, must stand as 
Americans, and we must say to Spain : "You shall give 
that island self-government, or we will." Poor old 
Oliver Goldsmith said a long time ago : 

Honor fails where commerce long prevailf 



466 STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 

The right to receive a cargo and make $100,000 on 
it, and the right to send out a cargo and make $100,000 
on it; these are the things that are now poking their 
heads up all over this country and pleading against 
"jingoism." 1 I received a letter this morning from New 
York. "Another fool," the writer says, "has turned 
jingo." He asks, "Could you not have left this jingo- 
ism to Lodge and Chandler and Sherman? What did 
you go into it for?" and he signs himself "A Disgusted 
Democrat." If I had one of the cathode rays, and 
could put it into his pocket, I would find sugar stock. 
No man who ever felt the honor of country touch his 
heart, no man who ever felt a feeling of humanity ani- 
mate his bosom, in a time of this sort — when innocent 
women and girls and children are lifting their piteous 
hands and appealing to the government that makes 
these things possible — could ever send such a message 
as that to a member of Congress. 

I believe, as I said a while ago, that the hour is draw- 
ing nigh when guiltless blood shall penetrate the sky. 
I believe that the day is not very far off when the Am- 
erican people will see this as they saw that other slav- 
ery. I believe the day is approaching rapidly when the 
American conscience will stand up full armed and 
equipped, and fill the Senate and the House and the 
Executive Mansion with men who will say to Spain: 
'This thing must stop. We will take that island from 
you. We will give to the people of Cuba the power t< 1 



STORY OF SPAIN AND CUBA. 467 

organize a government coming from the consent of 
the governed, the same sort of government that we 
have. We demand that they shall have the inalienable 
right." 

Our fathers said that everybody had the inalienable 
right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and 
they said they had a right to institute government such 
as they might think proper that would secure those 
rights. Yet we stand in the way and prevent those 
poor people from instituting any government of their 
own. They plead, and in agony groan and lift their 
piteous appeal to us, and their cries die on the air while 
we are the most powerful military people in the world, 
and the most advanced in civilization. We are rigdit 
at their door. We have this little ewe lamb in our bo- 
som that God has put here and made us the guardians 
for its protection. We have assumed that duty, and we 
still see her day by day and year by year tortured upon 
the rack. 

The day is coming when Cuba shall arise and when 
there will be a voice that will speak to her like the voice 
of the apostle who saw the poor man lying at the beau- 
tiful gate to ask for alms, and an invalid from his birth, 
begging alms of those who passed by him. The apos- 
tle told him he had no money ; he could give no alms, 
but he gave that which was better. He said, "In the 
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." 

Here is another poor beggar lying at the beautiful 



468 STORY OF 8PA1 X AND CUBA. 

gate, lying at the gate of the fortress that guards the 
rights and liberties and safety of the American people ; 
she has been lying there for a century lifting up her 
shrunken hands and hollow cheeks and crying with 
salty tears to us, "Help us, oh help us to get out of this 
dungeon!" The American people will say after a 
while, in the name of the mighty republic, "Arise to 
your feet and walk." She will extend to the poor men- 
dicant her powerful right arm and lift her to her feet 
and enable her to stand. 

A great many of our fathers have wanted and longed 
for the annexation of Cuba, a great many others have 
not, but they have all agreed that Cuba should never 
go to a power that was strong enough to imperil our 
rights and liberties. They have all agreed that she 
shall be under our protection. I am not asking for the 
annexation of Cuba, and I am not longing for her ad- 
mission as a State into our Union. I would say to 
Spain: "You can give her local self-government, you 
can keep your paramount sovereignty over her; but 
you must protect her people and give them the power 
to control their domestic affairs. If you do not do it, 
then I will take possession of the island, and with the 
armed forces of the United States I will see that they 
have the opportunity to organize a government and 
arm themselves for its security, and I will hold it until 
thev are able to stand alone." 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX 



Official Report of the Court of Inquiry Which 
Investigated the Maine Disaster. 



Washington, March 28. — The following is the full text of 
the report of the court of inquiry: 

"U. S. S. Iowa, First Rate. 
"Key West, Fla., Monday, March 21, 1898. 

"After full and mature consideration of all the testimony 
before it, the court find> as follows: 

"First — That the United States battleship Maine arrived in 
the harbor of Havana, Cuba, on January 25, 1898, and was 
taken to buoy No. 4, in from five and a-half to six fathoms of 
water by the regular government pilot. The United States 
consul-general at Havana had notified the authorities at that 
place the previous evening of the intended arrival of the 
Maine. 

"Second — The state of discipline on board the Maine was 
excellent, and all orders and regulations in regard to the care 
and safety of the ship were strictly carried out. All ammuni- 
tion was stowed in accordance with prescribed instructions, 
and proper care was taken whenever ammunition was han- 
dled. Nothing was stowed in any one of the magazines or 
shellrooms which was not permitted to be stowed there. 

THE MAGAZINES AND SHELLROOMS. 

"The magazines and shellrooms were always locked after 
having been opened: and after the destruction of the Maine 
the keys were found in their proper place in the Captain'^ 



472 APPENDIX. 

cabinet, everything having been reported secure that evening 
at 8 P. M. The temperature of the magazines and shell- 
rooms was taken daily and reported. The only magazine 
which had an undue amount of heat was the after ten-inch 
magazine, and that did not explode at the time the Maine was 
destroyed. The torpedo war heads were all stowed in the 
after part of the ship, under the wardroom, and neither caused 
nor participated in the destruction of the Maine. 

"The dry gun cotton primers and detonators were stowed 
in the cabin aft, and remote from the scene of the explosion. 
Waste was carefully looked after on board the Maine to obvi- 
ate danger. Special orders in regard to this had been given 
by the commanding officer. Varnishes, dryers, alcohol and 
others combustibles of this nature were stowed on or above 
the main deck, and could not have had anything to do with 
the destruction of the Maine. The medical stores were stowed 
aft, under the wardroom, and remote from the scene of the 
explosion. No dangerous stores of any kind were stowed 
below in any of the other storerooms. 

CONDITION OF THE COAL BUNKERS. 

"The coal bunkers were inspected daily. Of those bunkers 
adjacent to the forward magazines and shellrooms, four were 
empty, namely, "B 3. B 4, B 5. B 6.' 'A 15' had been in use 
that day, and 'A 16' was full of New River coal. This coal 
had been carefully inspected before receiving on board. The 
bunker in which it was stowed was accessible on three sides 
at all times, and the fourth side at this time, on account of 
bunkers 'B 4' and 'B 6' being empty. This bunker. A 16.' 
had been inspected that day by the engineer officer on duty. 
The fire-alarms in the bunkers were in working order, and 
there had never been a case of spontaneous combustion of 
coal on board the Maine. 

"The two after boilers of the ship were in use at the time 
of the disaster, but for auxiliary purposes only, with a com- 
paratively low pressure of steam, and being tended by a reli- 
able watch. These boilers could not have caused the explo- 



APPENDIX. 473 

sion of the ship. The four forward boilers have since been 
found by the divers and are in a fair condition. 

"The finding of the court of inquiry was reached after 
twenty-three days of continuous labor, on the 21 st of March 
instant, and having been approved on the 22d by the com- 
mander-in-chief of the United States naval force on the North 
Atlantic station was transmitted to the Executive. 

THE SHIP REPORTED SECURE. 

"On the night of the destruction of the Maine everything 
had been reported secure for the night at 8 P. M. by reliable 
persons, through the proper authorities, to the commanding 
officer. At the time the Maine was destroyed the ship was 
quiet, and therefore least liable to accident caused by move- 
ments from those on board. 

"Third — The destruction of the Maine occurred at 9.40 
P. M. on February 15, 1898, in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, 
she being at the time moored to the same buoy to which she 
had been taken upon her arrival. There were two explosions 
of a distinctly different character, with a very short but dis- 
tinct interval between them, and the forward part of the ship 
was lifted to a marked degree at the time of the first explo- 
sion. The first explosion was more in the nature of a report, 
like that of a gun, while the second explosion was more open, 
prolonged and of greater volume. The second explosion 
was, in the opinion of the court, caused by the partial explo- 
sion of two or more of the forward magazines of the Maine. 

THE AFTER PART INTACT. 

"Fourth — The evidence bearing upon this, being princi- 
pally obtained from divers, did not enable the court to form 
a definite conclusion as to the condition of the wreck, although 
it was established that the after part of the ship was practi- 
cally intact and sank in that condition a very few minutes 
after the destruction of the forward part. 



474 APPENDIX. 

"The following facts in regard to the forward part of the 
ship are, however, established by the testimony: 

"That portion of the port side of the protective deck which 
extends from about frame 30 to about frame 41 was blown up 
aft and over to port. The main deck, from about frame 30 to 
about frame 41, was blown up aft and slightly over to star- 
board, folding the frame forward part of the middle super- 
structure over and on top of the after part. 

•'This was, in the opinion of the court, caused by the partial 
explosion of two or more of the forward magazines of the 
Maine. 

"Fifth — At frame 17 the outer shell of the ship, from a point 
eleven and one-half feet from the middle line of the ship and 
six Eeet above the keel when in its normal position, lias been 
forced up so as to be now about four feet above the surface of 
the water; therefore, about thirty-four feet above where it 
would be had the ship sunk uninjured. The outside bottom 
plating is bent into a reversed V shape, the after wing of 
which, about fifteen feet broad and thirty-two feet in length 
(from frame 17 to frame 25), is doubled back upon itself against 
the continuation of the same plating extending forward. 

THE KEEL BROKEN IN TWO. 

"At frame 18 the vertical keel is broken in two and the flat 
keel bent into an angle similar to the angle formed by the 
outside bottom pl?.*",ng. This break is now about six feet 
below the surface of the water, and about thirty feet above its 
normal position. 

"In the opinion of the court, this effect could have been 
produced only by the explosion of a mine situated under the 
bottom of the ship at about frame 18, and somewhat on the 
port side of the ship. 

"Sixth— The court finds that the loss of the Maine on the 
occasion named was not in any respect due to fault or negli- 
gence on the part of any of the officers or members of the 
crew of said vessel. 

"Seventh — In the opinion of the court, the Maine was de- 



APPENDIX. 475 

stroyed by the explosion ol a submarine mine, which caused 
the partial explosion of two or more of her forward maga- 
zines. 

"Eighth — The court has been unable to obtain evidence fix- 
ing the responsibility for the destruction of the Maine upon 
any person or persons. 

"W. T. SAMPSON, Captain U. S. N., 

"President. 
"A. MARIX, Lieut-Commander U. S. N., 

"Judge-Advocate. 
"The court, having finished the inquiry it was ordered to 
make, adjourned at n A. M. to await the action of the con- 
vening authority. 

"W. T. SAMPSON, Captain U. S. N„ 

"President. 
"A. MARIX, Lieut-Commander U. S. N., 

"Judge-Advocate." 

APPROVED BY ADMIRAL STCARD. 

"U. S. Flagship New York, March 22, 1808. 
"Off Key West, Fla. 
"The proceedings and findings of the court of inquiry in 
the above case are approved. M. SICARD, 

"Rear-Admiral, Commander-in-Chief of the United 

States Nava< Force on the North Atlantic Station." 



THE TESTIMONY. 



ALL OBTAINABLE FACTS BEARING UPON THE DISASTER BROUGHT 
OUT IN DETAIL BY THE COURT. 

Washington, March 28. — The immense mass of testimony 
taken by the Maine court of inquiry was sent to the Senate 
today and referred to the committee on foreign relations. 
The testimony was taken on eighteen different days, the four- 
teenth day, however, being devoted to viewing the wreck. 



47« APPENDIX. 

Every witness who was known to have any information that 
could throw light upon the great disaster was called to give 
his testimony. The story of the destruction of the vessel is 
told in a manner which gives all the obtainable facts. No 
technical detail is omitted. 

Every moment and incident connected with the Maine from 
the time she left Key West until the last diver examined the 
wreck slowly sinking in the mud of Havana harbor is given. 
Perhaps the most significant testimony is that showing the 
bottom plates on the port side of the ill-fated Maine to be 
bent inward and upward, a result that hardly could have fol- 
lowed anything save an explosion from the outside. 

A mass of testimony is submitted showing the care exer- 
cised on board the ship by Captain Sigsbee and his officers, 
and the apparent impossibility of the accident occurring by 
any internal cause, such as the heating of the bunkers, spon- 
taneous combustion, or from other causes upon which so 
many theories were based. The testimony of Captain Sigs- 
bee is of the greatest importance, and, perhaps, is of more gen- 
eral interest than that of any other man called before the 
board. With great care and minuteness he gives an account 
of the management of the ship, how she was handled, what 
was done from day to day on board, how she sailed into 
Havana, her anchorage and what he knew about it, and, in 
fact, every point upon which the government and the country 
desires to be informed. Nothing in Captain Sigsbee's testi- 
mony shows that the anchorage was changed, or that it was 
considered dangerous by any one. 

Ensign Powelson had charge of the divers, and knew from 
day to day what these divers found. This officer was minutely 
informed as to the construction of the Maine and everything 
about her. His testimony was to a certain extent technical, 
bearing upon the construction of the ship, her plates, etc., 
but it was from these plates and this technical knowledge that 
he was able to declare that the explosion took place from the 
outside. 

The divers. Morgan, Olsen and Smith, all contributed im- 
portant evidence. They testified that the plates were bent 



APPENDIX. 477 

inward on the bottom port side and outward on the starboard 
side. 

Nothing in the testimony fixes responsibility, no conspiracy 
is apparent, no knowledge of the planting of a mine is shown. 
Captain Sigsbee states that a somewhat bitter feeling existed 
against the American ship and Americans generally, and a 
witness whose name is suppressed tells of overhearing a con- 
versation among Spanish officers and a citizen indicating a 
fore-knowledge of the destruction of the Maine by intention 
to blow her up. 

An official of the American consulate tells of information 
received anonymously tending to show that a conspiracy 
existed, but nothing is definitely stated which fixes any re- 
sponsibility upon Spain or her subjects. 



CAPTAIN SIGSBEE. 

Captain Sigsbee, who commanded the Maine, in testifying 
before the court of inquiry, said that he assumed command 
of the Maine on April 10, 1897, and that his ship arrived in 
the harbor of Havana the last time on January 24, 1898. The 
authorities at Havana knew of the Maine's coming, Constil- 
General Lee having informed the authorities, according to 
official custom. After he took on an official pilot sent by the 
captain of the port of Havana, the ship was berthed in the 
man-of-war anchorage off the Mochina, or Shears, and, ac- 
cording to his understanding, was one of the regular buoys 
of the place. 

PLACE OF MOORING CRITICISED. 

He then stated that he had been in Havana in 1872, and 
again in 1878. He could not state whether the Maine was 
placed in the usual berth for men-of-war, but said that he had 
heard remarks since the explosion, using Captain Stevens, 
temporarily in command of the Ward Line steamer City of 



47S APPENDIX. 

Washington, as authority for the statement that he had never 
known, in all his experience, which covered visits to Havana 
for five or six years, a man-of-war to be anchored at that 
buoy; that he had rarely known merchant vessels to be 
anchored there, and that it was the least used buoy in the 
harbor. 

In describing the surroundings when first moored to his 
buoy, Captain Sigsbee stated that the Spanish man-of-war 
Alphonso XII was moored in the position now occupied by 
the Fern, about 250 yards to the northward and westward of 
the Maine. The German ship Gneisenau was anchored at one 
of the berths now occupied by the Spanish man-of-war Seg- 
aspe, which is about 400 yards about due north from the 
Maine. He then located the German man-of-war Charlotte, 
which came into the harbor a day or two later, which was 
anchored to the southward of the Maine's berth about 400 or 
500 yards. 

AT THE TIME OF THE EXPLOSION. 

In describing the surroundings at the time of the explosion. 
Captain Sigsbee stated that the night was calm and still. The 
Alphonso XII was at the same berth. The small Spanish 
dispatch boat Segaspe had come out the day before and taken 
the berth occupied by the German man-of-war, the Gneisenau, 
which had left. The steamer City of Washington was anch- 
ored about 200 yards to the south and east of the Maine's 
stern, slightly on the port quarter. 

The Maine coaled at Key West, taking on about 150 tons, 
the coal being regularly inspected and taken from the govern- 
ment coal pile. This coal was placed generally in the for- 
ward bunkers. No report was received from the chief engi- 
neer that any coal had been too long in the bunkers, and that 
the fire-alarms in the bunkers were sensitive. 

In so far as the regulations regarding inflammables and 
paints on board. Captain Sigsbee testified that the regulations 
were strictly carried out in regard to stowage, and that the 
waste also was subject to the same careful disposition. -As 



APPENDIX. 479 

to the situation of the paint room, lie fixed it as in the "eyes 
of the ship," just below the berth deck, the extreme forward 
compartment. As for the disposition of inflammables, they 
were stowed in chests according to regulations, and when 
inflammables were in excess of chest capacity they were 
allowed to be kept in the bathroom of the admiral's cabin. 

LIGHTS WENT OUT IMMEDIATELY. 

Regarding the electric plant of the Maine, Captain Sigsbee 
stated that there was no serious grounding, nor sudden flaring 
up of the lights before the explosion, but a sudden and total 
eclipse. As for regulations affecting the taking of tempera- 
ture of the magazine and so on. he said there were no special 
regulations other than the usual regulations required by the 
department. He examined the temperature himself and con- 
versed with the ordnance officer as to the various tempera- 
tures and the contents of the magazines, and, according to the 
opinion of this officer, as well as Sigsbee, the temperatures 
were never at the danger point. 

"I do not think there was any laxity in this direction," said 
the Captain, in reply to a question of Judge-Advocate Marix. 

He had no recollection of any work going on in the maga- 
zine or shellrooms on the day of the explosion. The keys 
were called for in the usual way on the day in question, and 
were properly returned. At the time of the disaster the two 
after boilers in the after fireroom were in use, because the 
hydraulic system was somewhat leaky. 

RELATIONS WITH THE SPANISH. 

Speaking generally of his relations with the Spanish author- 
ities. Captain Sigsbee stated that with the officials they were 
outwardly cordial. The members of the autonomistic council 
of the government, however, seemed to have brought to the 
attention of the Navy Department the fact that he did not 
visit them, and that fact brought some embarrassment to the 
government at Washington He took the ground to the de 



480 APPENDIX. 

partment that it was unknown etiquette to call on the civil 
members of the colonial government, other than the Gov- 
ernor. Without waiting for such an order, Captain Sigsbee 
made a visit afterward, and, as he states, was pleasantly re- 
ceived and his visit promptly returned by certain members 
of the council. Later a party of ladies and gentlemen called 
and the president of the council made a speech, which Cap- 
tain Sigsbee could not understand, but which was interpreted 
to him briefly, to which he replied. 

"My reply," said Captain Sigsbee, "was afterward printed 
in at least two papers in Havana, but the terms made me favor 
autonomistic government in the island. I am informed that 
the autonomistic government in Havana is unpopular among 
the large class of Spanish and Cuban residents. I have no 
means of knowing whether my apparent interference in the 
political concerns of the island had any relation to the de- 
struction of the Maine." 

EVIDENCES OF ANIMOSITY 

When asked whether there was any demonstration of ani- 
mosity by people afloat, Captain Sigsbee said that there never 
was on shore, as he was informed, but there was afloat. He 
then related that the first Sunday after the Maine's arrival a 
ferry boat, crowded densely with people, civd and military, 
returning from a bull fight in Regla, passed the Maine, and 
about forty people on board indulged in yells and whistles. 

During the stay in Havana Captain Sigsbee took more 
than ordinary precautions for the protection of the Maine by 
placing sentries on the forecastle and poop and signal boys 
on the bridge and on the poop. A corporal of the guard was 
especially instructed to look out for the port gangway, and 
the officer of the deck and quarter-master were especially in- 
structed to look out for the starboard gangway. A quarter- 
watch was kept on deck all night. Sentries' cartridge boxes 
were filled, their arms kept loaded, a number of rounds of 
rapid-fire ammunition kept in the pilot-house, and in the 
spare captain'? pantry, under the after superstructure, was 



APPENDIX. 481 

kept additional charges of shell close at hand for the second 
battery. Steam was kept up on two boilers instead of one, 
and positive instructions were given to watch carefully all the 
hydraulic gear and report defects. 

EVERY VISITOR WATCHED. 

He said he had given orders to the master at arms and the 
ordinary sergeant to keep a careful eye on everybody that 
came on board and to carefully observe any packages that 
might be held, on the supposition that dynamite or other high 
explosives might be employed, and afterward to inspect the 
route these people had taken and never to lose sight of the 
importance of the order. 

He stated that very few people visited the ship, Commander 
Wainwright being rather severe on desultory visitors. There 
were only two visits of Spanish military officers. Once a 
party of five or six Spanish officers came on board, but, ac- 
cording to the Captain, they were constrained and not desir- 
ous of accepting much courtesy. This visit was during the 
absence of the Captain. He said he made every effort to have 
the Spanish officers visit the ship to show good-will, accord- 
ing to the spirit of the Maine's visit to Havana, but, with the 
exceptions stated, no military officer of Spain visited the ship 
socially. 

Captain Sigsbee then went into details regarding the pre- 
cautions in force, especially in relation to quarter-watch, and 
which, he said, had never been rescinded. One of the cutters 
was in the water at the time of the accident, and one of the 
steam launches; the first was riding at the starboard boom. 

The Captain said that the night of the explosion was quiet 
and warm, and that he remembered hearing' distinctly the 
echoes of the bugle at tattoo. Stars were out, the sky, how- 
ever, being overcast. The Maine at the time of the explosion 
was heading approximately northwest, pointing toward The 
Shears. He was writing at his port cabin table at the time of 
I 1 •? explosion and was dressed. 



4ai IPPEND1X. . 

i. UN sigsbee's experience 

He then went into a description of his experience when he 
felt the crash. He characterized it as a bursting, rending and 
crashing sound or roar of immense' volume, largely metallic 
in its character, ll was succeeded by a metallic sound, prob- 
ably of falling dehns. a trembling and lurching motion of the 
vessel, then an impression of subsidence, attended by an 
jelipse of electric lights and intense darkness within the cabin. 
;le knew immediately that the Maine had been blown up. and 
hat she was sinking. He hurried to the starboard cabin 
ports, but changed his course to the passage leading to the 
superstructure. Then he detailed the manner of meeting Pri- 
vate Anthony, which is much the same as has been published. 
Commander Wainwright was on deck when Captain Sigsbee 
emerged from the passage way. and. turning to the orderly. 
he asked for the time, which was given as 0.40 o'clock. Sen- 
tries were ordered placed about the ship, and the forward 
magazine flooded if practicable. He called for perfect silence. 
The surviving officers were about him at the time on the 
poop. He was informed that both forward and after maga- 
zines were under water. Then came faint cries, and he saw 
dimly white floating bodies in the water. Boats were at once 
ordered lowered, but only two were found available, the gig 
.md whale boat. They were lowered and maimed by officers 
and by men, and by the Captain's direction they left the ship 
and assisted in saving the wounded jointly with other boats 
that had arrived on the scene. 

KXl'LOSION OF AMMUNITION 

Fire amidships by this time was burning fiercely, and the 
spare ammunition in the pilot-house was exploding in detail. 
\t this time Lieutenant-Commander Wainwright whispered 
to the Captain that he thought the ten-inch magazine forward 
had been thrown up into the burning mass and might explode 
in time. Everybody was then directed to get into the boats 
over the stern, which was done, the Captain getting into the 



APPENDIX. 483 

gig and then proceeded to the City of Washington, where he 
found the wounded in the dining saloon being carefully at- 
tended by the officers and crew of the vessel. He then went 
on deck, observed the wreck for a few minutes and gave direc- 
tions to have a muster taken on board the City of Washing- 
ton and other vessels. He sat down in the Captain's cabin, 
and dictated a telegram to the Navy Department. 

SPANIARDS EXPRESSED SORROW. 

Various Spanish officials came on board and expressed sym- 
pathy and sorrow for the accident. The representatives of 
General Blanco and of the admiral of the station were among 
the Spanish officials who tendered their respects. 

About eighty-four or eighty-five men were found that night 
who survived. By the time Captain Sigsbee reached the 
quarter-deck it was his impression that an overwhelming ex- 
plosion had occurred. When he came from the cabin he was 
practically blinded for a few seconds. His only thought was 
for the vessel, and he took no note of the phenomena of the 
explosion. In reply to the direct question of whether any of 
the magazines or shell rooms were blown up, the Captain said 
it was extremely difficult to come to any conclusion. The 
center of the explosion was beneath and a little forward of the 
conning tower on the port side. In the region of the center 
or axis of the explosion was the six-inch reserve magazine, 
which contained very little powder, about 300 pounds. The 
ten-inch magazine was in the same general region, but on the 
starboard side. Over the ten-inch magazine in the loading 
room of the turret and in the adjoining passage a number of 
ten-inch shells were permanently placed. 

According to Captain Sigsbee, it would be difficult to con- 
ceive that the explosion involved the ten-inch magazine, be- 
cause of the location of the explosion, and that no reports 
show that any ten-inch shells were hurled into the air because 
of the explosion. The Captain went into details as to the 
'ocation of the small-arm ammunition. He said that he did 
not believe that the forward six-inch magazine blew up. The 



484 APPENDIX. 

location of the gun-cotton was aft under the cabin. The gun 
cotton primers and the detonators were always kept in the 
cabin. He stated that he had examined the wreck himself. 
conversed with other officers and men. but, as the Spanish 
authorities were very much averse to an investigation, except 
officially, on the grounds, as stated by the Spanish admiral, 
that the honor of Spain was involved, he forebore to examine 
the submarine portion of the wreck for the cause of the ex- 
plosion until the day the court convened. 

ship's discipline excellent. 

He said the discipline of the ship was excellent. The ma- 
rine guard was in excellent condition. The reports of the 
medical department show that about one man and a-quarter 
per day were on the sick list during the past year. In the 
engineer's department the vessel was always ready and always 
responsive. He paid a tribute to the crew, and said that a 
quieter better-natured lot of nun he had never known on 
board any vessel in which he had served. He had no fault to 
find with the behavior of any officer or man at the time of the 
disaster, and considered their conduct admirable. 

On his examination by the court. Captain Sigsbee said that 
the highest temperature he could remember was 112, but that 
was in the after magazine. The temperatures in the forward 
magazines were considerably lower. There was no loose 
powder kept in the magazine. All the coal bunkers were ven- 
tilated through air tubes examined weekly by the chief engi- 
neer, and were connected electrically to the annunciator near 
his cabin door. The forward coal bunker on the port side 
was full. The forward coal bunker on the starboard side was 
half full, and it was in use at the time of the explosion. 

NO UNDUE HEAT IN COAL BUNKER. 

Captain Sigsbee, being recalled, stated that he had detailed 
Lieutenant-Commander Wainwright, Lieutenant Holman and 
Chief Engineer Howell, all of the Maine, to obtain informa- 



APPENDIX. 485 

tion in regard to any outsiders who may have seen the explo- 
sion. Captain Sigsbee also gave as his opinion that if coal 
bunker A 16 had been so hot as to be dangerous to the six- 
inch reserve magazine, this condition would have been shown 
on three sides where the bunker was exposed, and that men 
constantly passing to and fro by it would have necessarily 
noticed any undue heat. 

Captain Sigsbee was examined as to the ammunition on 
board the Maine. He stated that there were no high explo- 
sives, gun-cotton, detonators or other material in magazines 
or shellroom which the regulations prohibit. He testified 
that no war heads had been placed on torpedoes since he had 
command of the ship. 



486 APPENDIX. 



SITUATION IN CUBA BY II. S. SENATOR PROCTOR. 



The Misery Indescribable— Reconcentrados 
Dying from Starvation and Disease. 



There are six provinces in Cuba, each, with the exception 
of Matanzas, extending the whole widtli of the island and hav- 
ing about an equal sea front on the north and south borders 
Matanzas touches the Caribbean sea only at its southwest 
corner, being separated from it elsewhere by a narrow penin- 
sula of Santa Clara Province. The provinces art- named, be- 
ginning at the west, Pinar del Rio, Havana, Matanzas. Santa 
Clara, Puerto Principe and Santiago dc Cuba. My observa- 
tions were confined to the four western provinces, which con- 
stitute about one-half the island. The two eastern ones are 
practically in the hands of the insurgents except the few 
fortified towns. These two large provinces are spoken of 
today as "Cuba Libre." 

QUIET IN HAVANA. 

Havana, the great city and capital of the island, is, in the 
eyes of the Spaniards and many Cubans, all Cuba, as much as 
Paris is France. But having visited it in more peaceful times 
and seen its sights, the tomb of Columbus, the forts Cabana 
and Moro Castle, etc., I did not care to repeat this, preferring 
trips in the country. Everything seems to go on much as 
usual in Havana. Quiet prevails, and, except for the frequent 
squads of soldiers marching to guard and police duty and their 
abounding presence in all public places, one sees little signs 
of war. 









APPENDIX 487 

Outside Havana all is changed. It is not peace, uor is it 
war. It is desolation and distrust, misery and starvation. 
Every town and village is surrounded by a trocha (trench), a 
sort of rifle pit, but constructed on a plan new to me, the dirt 
being thrown up on the inside and a barbed-wire fence on the 
outer side of the trench. These trochas have at every corner 
and at frequent intervals along the sides what are there called 
forts, but which are really small blockhouses, many of them 
more like a large sentry box, loopholed for musketry, and 
with a guard of from two to ten soldiers in each. The purpose 
of these trochas is to keep the reconcentrados in, as well as to 
keep the insurgents out. From all the surrounding country 
the people have been driven into these fortified towns and held 
there to subsist as they can 

They are virtually prison yards and not unlike one in gen 
era! appearance, except the walls are not so high and strong 
hut they suffice, where every point is in range of a soldier s 
rifle, to keep in the poor reconcentrado women and children 
Every railroad station is within one of these trochas, and has 
an armed guard. Every train lias an armored freight car, 
loopholed for musketry, and filled with soldiers and with Us 
1 observed usually and was informed is always the case) a 
pilot engine a mile or so in advance. There are frequent 
blockhouses inclosed by a trocha and with a guard along tl • 
railroad track 

NO HUMAN LIFE OK HABITATION 

With this exception there is no human life or habitation 
between these fortified towns and villages and throughout the 
whole of the four western provinces, except to a very limited 
extent among the hills where the Spaniards have not been 
able to go and drive people from the towns and burn die 
dwellings. I saw no house or hut in the 400 miles of railroac' 
rides from Pinar del Rio province, in the west across the full 
width of Havana and Matanzas provinces, and to Sagua la 
Grande, on the north shore, and to Cienfuegos, on the south 
4iore of Santa Clara, except within the Spanish trochas. 



488 APPENDIX. 

There are no domestic animals or crops on the fields and pas 
tures, except such as are under guard in the immediate vicinity 
of the towns. 

In other words, the Spaniards hold in these four western 
provinces just what their army sits on. Every man, woman 
and child and every domestic animal, wherever their columns 
have reached, is under guard and within their so-called forti- 
fications. To describe one place is to describe all. To re- 
peat, it is neither peace nor war. It is concentration and deso- 
lation. This is the "pacified" condition of the four western 
provinces. 

West of Havana is mainly the rich tobacco country; east 
so far as I went, a sugar region. Nearly all the sugar mills 
are destroyed between Havana and Sagua. Two or three 
were standing in the vicinity of Sagua. and in pari running, 
surrounded, as are the villages by trochas and "forts," or 
palisades, of the royal palm and fully guarded. Toward and 
near Cienfuegos there were more mills running, but all with 
the same protection. It is said that the owners of these mills 
near Cienfuegos have been able to obtain special favors of 
the Spanish government in the way of a large force of sol- 
diers, but that they also, as well as all the railroads, pay taxes 
to the Cubans for immunity. I had no means of verifying 
this. It is the common talk among those who have better 
means of knowledge. 

THE RECONCENTRADOS. 

All the country people in the four western provinces, about 
400,000 in number, remaining outside the fortified towns when 
Weyler's order was made, were driven into these towns, and 
these are the reconcentrados. They were the peasantry, many 
of them farmers, some landowners, others renting lands and 
owning more or less stock, others working on estates and 
cultivating small patches, and even a small patch in that fruit- 
ful clime will support a family. It is but fair to say that the 
normal condition of these people w^s very different from that 
which prevails in this country. Their standard of comfort 



APPENDIX. 489 

and prosperity was not high, measured by our own. But, 
according to their standards and requirements, their condi- 
tions of life were satisfactory. 

They lived mostly in cabins, made of palm, or in wooden 
houses. Some of them had houses of stone, the blackened 
walls of which are all that remain to show that the country 
was ever inhabited. The first clause of Weyler's order reads 
as follows: 

I order and command: 

First — All the inhabitants of the country or outside of the 
line of fortifications of the towns shall, within the period of 
eight days, concentrate themselves in the town so occupied 
by the troops. Any individual who, after the expiration of 
this period, is found in the uninhabited parts, will be consid- 
ered a rebel and tried as such. 

The other three sections forbid the transportation of pro- 
visions from one town to another without permission of the 
military authority; direct the owners of cattle to bring them 
into the towns; prescribe that the eight days shall be counted 
from the publication of the proclamation to the head town of 
the municipal districts, and state that if news is furnished of 
the enemy which can be made use of it will serve as a "recom- 
mendation." 

CRUELTY OF GUERILLAS. 

Many, doubtless, did not learn of this order. Others failed 
to grasp its terrible meaning. Its execution was left largely 
to the guerillas to drive in all that had not obeyed, and I 
was informed that in many cases a torch was applied to their 
homes with no notice and the inmates fled with such clothing 
as they might have on, their stock and other belongings being 
appropriated by the guerillas. When they reached the town 
they were allowed to build huts of palm leaves in the suburbs 
and vacant places within the trochas, and left to live if they 
could. Their huts are about ten by fifteen feet in size, and, 
for want of space, are usually crowded together very closely. 
They have no floor but the ground, and no furniture, and after 



490 APPE.XDIX. 

a year's wear but little clothing except such stray substitutes 
as they can extemporize. 

With large families, or with more than one in this little 
space, the commonest sanitary provisions are impossible. 
Conditions are unmentionable in this respect. Torn from 
their homes, with foul earth, foul air, foul water and foul food 
or none, what wonder that one-half have died and that one- 
quarter of the living are so diseased that they cannot be saved. 
A form of dropsy is a common disorder, resulting from these 
conditions. Little children are still walking about with arms 
and chest terribly emaciated, eyes swollen and abdomen 
bloated to three times the natural size. The physicians say 
tkese cases are hopeless 

MANY DIE IN THE STREETS. 

Deaths in the streets have not been uncommon. I was told 
by one of our consuls that they have been found dead about 
the markets in the morning, where they had crawled, hoping 
to get some stray bits of Food from the early hucksters, and 
that there had been cases where they had dropped dead inside 
the market, surrounded by food. These people were inde- 
pendent and self-supporting before Weyler's order. They are 
not beggars, even now. There are plenty of professional beg- 
gars m every town among the regular residents, but these 
country people, the reconcentrados, have not learned the art. 
Rarely is a hand held out to yon lor alms when going among 
their huts, but the sight of them makes an appeal stronger 
than words. 

Of the hospitals I need not speak. Others have described 
their conditions far better than I can. It is not within the 
narrow limits of my vocabulary to portray. I went to Cuba 
with a strong conviction that the picture had been overdrawn; 
that a few cases of starvation and suffering had inspired and 
stimulated the press correspondents and they had given free 
play to a strong, natural and highly-cultivated imagination. 
Before starting I received through the mail a leaflet published 
by the Christian Herald, with cuts of some of the sick and 



APPENDIX. 491 

starving reconcentrados, and took it with me, thinking these 
were rare specimens got up to make the worst possible show- 
ing. I saw plenty as bad and worse; many that should not be 
photographed and shown. 

I could not believe that out of a population of 1,600,000, 
200,000 had died within these Spanish forts, practically prison 
walls, within a few months past from actual starvation and 
diseases caused by insufficient and improper food. My inqui- 
ries were entirely outside of sensational sources. They were 
made of our medical officers, of our consuls, of mayors, of 
relief committees, of leading merchants and bankers, physi- 
cians and lawyers. Several of my informants were Spanish 
born, but every time the answer was that the case had not been 
overstated. What I saw, 1 cannot tell, so that others can see 
it. It must be seen with one's own eyes to be realized. 

The Los Pazos Hospital, in Havana, has been recently de- 
scribed by one of my colleagues. Senator Gallinger, and I 
cannot say that his picture was overdrawn, for even his fertile 
pen could not do that. He visited it after Dr. Lesser, one of 
Miss Barton's very able and efficient assistants, had renovated 
it and put in cots. I saw it when 400 women and children 
were lying on the stone floors in an indescribable state of 
emaciation and disease, many with the scantiest covering of 
rags — and such rags — and sick children naked as they came 
into the world. And the conditions in the other cities are 
even worse. 

PEACE THE ONLY REMEDY. 

When will the need for this help end? Not until peace 
comes and the reconcentrados can go back to their country, 
rebuild their homes, reclaim their tillage plots, which quickly 
run up to brush in that wonderful soil and clime, and until 
they can be free from danger of molestation in so doing. 
Until then the American people must in the main care for 
them. It is true that the mayors, other local authorities and 
relief committees are now trying to do something and desire, 
I believe, to do the best they can. But the problem is beyond 



482 APPENDIX. 

their means and capacity, and the work is one to which they 
are not accustomed. 

General Blanco's order of November 13 last somewhat mod- 
ifies the Weyler orders, but is of little or no practical benefit. 
Its application is limited to farm "property defended," and 
the owners are obliged to build "centers of defence." Its 
execution is completely in the discretion of the local military 
authorities, and they know the terrible military efficiency of 
Weyler's order in stripping the country of all possible shelter, 
food or source of information for an insurgent and will be slow 
to surrender this advantage. In fact, though the order was 
issued four months ago, I saw no beneficent results from it 
worth mentioning. I do not impugn General Blanco's mo- 
tives, and believe him to be an amiable gentleman, and that 
he would be glad to relieve the condition of the reconcentra- 
dos if he could do so without loss of any military advantage, 
but he knows that all Cubans are insurgents at heart, and 
none now under military control will be allowed to go from 
under it. 

I wish I might speak of the country, of its surpassing rich- 
ness. I have never seen one to compare with it. On this 
point I agree with Columbus, and believe every one between 
his time and mine must be of the same opinion. It is, indeed, 
a land "where every prospect pleases and only man is vile." 

THE SPANIARDS TN CUBA. 

I had but little time to study the race question, and have 
read nothing on it, so I can only give hasty impressions. It 
is said that there are nearly 200,000 Spaniards in Cuba, out of 
a total population of 1,600,000. They live principally in the 
towns and cities. The small shopkeepers in the towns and 
their clerks are mostly Spaniards. Much of the larger busi- 
ness, too, and of the property in the cities, and in a less degree 
in the country, is in their hands. They have an eye to thrift 
and as everything possible in the way of trade and legalized 
monopolies, in which the country abounds, is given to then: 
by the government, many of them acquire property. T did 



APPENDIX. 493 

■not learn that the Spanish residents of the island had contrib- 
uted largely in blood or treasure to suppress the insurrection. 
There are, or were before the war, about 1,000,000 Cubans 
on the island, 200,000 Spaniards (which means those born in 
Spain), and less than half a million of negroes and mixed 
blood. The Cuban whites are pure Spanish blood, and, like 
the Spaniards, usually dark in complexion, but oftener light 
or blonde, so far as I noticed, than Spaniards. 

PERCENTAGE OF COLORED TO WHITE. 

The percentage of colored to white has been steadily dimin- 
ishing for more than fifty years, and is not now over 25 per 
cent, of the total. In fact, the number of colored people has 
been actually diminishing for nearly that time. 

The Cuban farmer and laborer is by nature peaceable, 
kindly, gay, hospitable, light-hearted and improvident. There 
is a proverb among the Cubans that "Spanish bulls cannot be 
bred in Cuba," that is, that the Cubans, though they are of 
Spanish blood, are less excitable and are of a quiet tempera- 
ment. Many Cubans whom I met spoke in strong terms 
against bull fights, that it was a brutal institution, introduced 
and mainly patronized by the Spaniards. One thing that was 
new to me was to learn the superiority of the well-to-do Cuban 
over the Spaniard in the matter of education. Among those 
in good circumstances there can be no doubt that the Cuban 
is far superior in this respect. And the reason of it is easy 
to see. They have been educated in England, France or this 
country, while the Spaniard has such education as his own 
country furnished. 

The colored people seem to me by nature quite the equal, 
mentally and physically, of the race in this country. Certainly 
physically they are by far the larger and stronger race on the 
island. There is little or no race prejudice, and this has 
doubtless been greatly to their advantage. Eighty-five years 
ago there were one-half as many free negroes as slaves, and 
this proportion was slowly increasing until emancipation. 



494 APPENDIX, 

THE MILITARY SITUATION 

It is said that there are about 60,000 Spanish soldiers in 
Cuba fit for duty, out of 400.000 that have been sent there. 
The rest have died, been sent borne sick and in the hospitals, 
and some have been killed, notwithstanding the official re- 
ports. They are conscripts, many of them very young, and 
generally small men. One hundred and thirty pounds is a 
fair estimate of their average weight. They are quiet ami 
obedient, and, if well drilled and led, I believe would fight 
fairly well, but not at all equal to our own men. Much more 
would depend on the leadership than with us. The officer 
must lead well, and be one in whom they have confidence, and 
this applies t<> both sides alike. As I saw 110 drills or regular 
formation, I inquired about them of many persons, and was 
informed that they had never seen a drill. 

I saw perhaps 10,000 Spanish troops, but not a piece of 
artillery, nor a tent. They live in barracks in the towns, and 
are seldom out for more than a day. returning to town at 
night. They have little or no equipment for supply trains or 
for a field campaign such as we have. Their calvary horses 
are scrubby little native ponies weighing not over 800 pounds, 
tough and hardy, hut for the most part in wretched condi- 
tion, reminding one of the mounts of Don Quixote and his 
squire. Some on the officers, however, have good horses, 
mostly American, I think. On both sides cavalry is consid- 
ered the favorite and the dangerous fighting arm. 

The tactics of the Spanish as described to me by an eye- 
witness and a participant in some of their battles, is for the 
infantry, when threatened by insurgent cavalry, to form a 
hollow square and fire away without ceasing until they march 
back to town. 

It does not seem to have entered the minds of either side 
that a god infantry force can take care of itself and repulse 
everywhere an equal number of cavalry, and there are every- 
where positions where cavalry would be at a disadvantage 



APPENDIX. 495 

THE INSURGENT FORCES. 

Having called on Governor and Captain-General Blanco 
and received his courteous call in return, i could not with pro- 
priety seek communication with insurgents. 1 had plenty of 
offers of safe conduct to Gomez's camp, and was told that if 1 
would write him an answer would be returned saiely within 
ten days at most. 1 saw several who had visited the insurgent 
camps, and was sought out by an insurgent held officer, who 
gave me the best information received as to the insurgent 
force. The statements were moderate, and I was credibly in- 
formed that he was entirely reliable. He claimed that the 
Cubans had about 30,000 good men now in the field, some in 
every province, but mostly in the two eastern provinces and 
Santa Clara, and the statement was corroborated from other 
good sources. 

They have a force all the time in Havana province itself, 
organized as four small brigades and operating in small bands. 
Ruiz was taken, tried and shot about a mile and a-half of the 
railroad and about fifteen miles out of Havana, on the road 
to Matanzas, a road more traveled than any other, and which 
I went over four times. Arranguren was killed about three 
miles the other side of the road, and about the same distance, 
fifteen or twenty miles, from Havana. They were well armed, 
but very poorly supplied with ammunition. They are not 
allowed to carry many cartridges, sometimes not more than 
one or two. The infantry especially are poorly clad. 

About one-third of the Cuban army are colored, mostly in 
the infantry, as the cavalry furnished their own horses. This 
field officer, an American from a Southern State, spoke in the 
highest terms of the conduct of these colored soldiers; that 
they were as good fighters and had more endurance than the 
whites, could keep up with the cavalry on a long march and 
come in fresh at night. 

POLITICAL SITUATION. 

The dividing lines between parties are the most straight 
and clear-cut that have ever cntim to my knowledge. The 



496 APPENDIX. 

division in our war was by no means so clearly denned. It is 
Cuban against Spaniard. It is practically the entire Cuban 
population on one side and the Spanish army and the Spanish 
citizens on the other. I do not count the autonomists in this 
division, as they are so far too inconsiderable in numbers to 
be worth counting. General Blanco filled the civil offices with 
men who had been autonomists and were still classed as such. 
But the march of events had satisfied most of them that the 
chance for autonomy came too late. It falls as talk of com- 
promise would have fallen the last year or two of our war. 
If it succeeds it can only be by armed force, by the triumph 
of the Spanish army, and the success of Spanish arms would 
be easier by Weyler's policy and methods, for in that the 
Spanish army and people believe. 

There is no doubt that General Blanco is acting in entire 
good faith, that he desires to give the Cubans a fair measure 
of autonomy, as Campos did at the close of the ten-year war. 
He has, of course, a few personal followers, but the army and 
Spanish citizens do not want genuine autonomy, for that 
means government by the Cuban people, and it is not strange 
that the Cubans say it comes too late. 

I have never had any communication, direct or indirect, 
with the Cuban junta in this country or any of its members, 
nor did I have with any of the junta which exists in every city 
and large town of Cuba. None of the calls I made were upon 
parties of whose sympathies I had the least knowledge, ex- 
cept that I knew some of them were classed as autonomists. 
Most of my informants were business men who had no sides 
and rarely expressed themselves. I had no means of guess- 
ing in advance what their answers would be, and was in most 
cases greatly surprised at their frankness. 

TOO LATE FOR AUTONOMY 

I inquired in regard to autonomy of men of wealth and men 
prominent in business in the cities of Havana, Matanzas and 
Sagua. Bankers, merchants, lawyers and autonomist offi- 
cials, some of them Spanish born, but Cuban bred, one promi- 



APPENDIX. 497 

nent Englishman, several of them known as autonomists and 
several of them telling me they were still believers in auton- 
omy if practicable. Without exception they replied that it 
was "too late" for that. Some favored a United States pro- 
tectorate, some annexation, some free Cuba; not one has been 
counted favoring the insurrection at first. They were busi- 
ness men and wanted peace, but said it was too late for peace 
under Spanish sovereignty. They characterized Weyler's 
order in far stronger terms than I can. I could not but con- 
clude that you do not have to scratch an autonomist very 
deep to find a Cuban. There is soon to be an election, but 
every polling place must be inside a fortified town. Such elec- 
tions ought to be safe for "ins." 

I have endeavored to state in not intemperate mood what I 
saw and heard, and to make no argument thereon, but leave 
every one to draw his own conclusions. To me the strongest 
appeal is not the barbarity practiced by Weyler, nor the loss 
of the Maine, if our worst fears should prove true, terrible as 
are both of these incidents, but the spectacle of a million and 
a-half people — the entire native population of Cuba — strug- 
gling for freedom and deliverance from the worst misgovern- 
ment of which I ever had knowledge. But, whether our 
action ought to be influenced by any one or all these things, 
and, if so, how far, is another question. 

OPPOSED TO ANNEXATION. 

I am not in favor of annexation, not because I would appre- 
hend any particular trouble from it, but because it is not a 
wise policy to take in any people of foreign tongue and train- 
ing and without any strong guiding American element. The 
fear that if free the people of Cuba would be revolutionary is 
not so well founded as has been supposed, and the conditions 
for good self-government are far more favorable. The large 
number of educated and patriotic men, the great sacrifices 
they have endured, the peaceable temperament of the people, 
whites and blacks, the wonderful prosperity that would surely 
come with peace and good home rule, the large influx of 



4<JS APPENDIX. 

American and English immigration and money would all be 
strong factors for stable institutions. 

But it is not my purpose at this time, nor do I consider it 
my province, to suggest any plan. I merely speak of the 
symptoms as I saw them, but do not undertake to prescribe. 
Such remedial steps as may be required may safely be left to 
an American President and the American people. 



BATTLE OF MAX I LA. 499 



BATTLE OF MANILA. 
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF DEWEY'S TRIUMPHANT CONFLICT— 

the spanish squadron succumbed to the terrific fire 
of the well-aimed american guns and the battle cry 
was "remember the maine" — the eight wounded 
americans — incidents of the world-famous conflict. 

From special dispatches and Associated Press reports of 
Commodore Dewey's famous fight and remarkable victory in 
Manila bay. it is learned that on Monday. April _>>. alter re- 
ceiving news of the declaration of war. the Meet quitted Britisb 
waters and on Wednesday sailed for Manila at the fastest speed 
that could be made with the coal supply provided for the ships. 
On Saturday night it passed the batteries at the entrance of 
Manila bay and on Sunday morning the battle began. 

ENTERING THE BAY. 

In the words of a special correspondent, who stood beside 
Commodore Dewey on the bridge of the flagship Olympia 
during the engagement, with all its lights out the squadron 
steamed into Bocagrande on Saturday night with crews at tbe 
guns. This was the order of the squadron, which was kept 
during the whole-time of the first battle: The flagship Olym- 
i>ia. the Baltimore, the Raleigh, the Petrel, the Concord, the 
Boston. 

It was just 8 o'clock, a bright moonlight night, but the flag- 
liip passed Corregidor Island without a sign being given that 
the Spaniards were aware of its approach. 

Not until the flagship was a mile beyond Corregidor was a 
gun fired. Then one heavy shot went screaming over the Ra- 



500 BATTLE OF 1/ LNILA. 

leigh and the Olympia, followed by a second, which fell fur- 
ther astern. 

The Raleigh, the Concord and the Boston replied, the Con- 
cord's shells exploding apparently exactly inside the shore 
battery, which fired no more. 

The squadron slowed down to barely steerage way and the 
men were allowed to sleep alongside their guns. 

Commodore Dewey had timed the arrival so that the fleet 
were within five miles of the city of Manila at daybreak. 

THE SPANISH SQUADRON. 

Off Cavite the Spanish squadron was sighted. Admiral 
Montejon commanding, whose flag was flying on the 3500-ton 
protected cruiser Reina Christina. The protected cruiser Cas- 
tilla, of 3200 tons, was moored ahead, and astern to the port 
battery and to seaward were the cruisers Don Juan de Austria, 
Don Antonio de Ulloa, Isla de Cuba, Isla de Luzon, Quiros. 
Marquis del Onero and General Lezox. These ships and the 
flagship remained under way during most of the action. 

UNDER THE STARS AND STRIPES. 

"With the United States flag flying at all their mastheads," 
writes the correspondent, "our ships moved to the attack in 
line ahead, with a speed of eight knots, first passing in front of 
Manila, where the action was begun by three batteries mount- 
ing guns powerful enough to send a shell over us at a distance 
of five miles. 

"The Concord's guns boomed out a reply to these batteries 
with two shots. No more were fired, because Commodore 
Dewey could not engage with these batteries without sending 
death and destruction into the crowded city. 

"As we neared Cavite two very powerful submarine mines 
were exploded ahead of the flagship. This was at 5.06 o'clock. 

"The Spaniards evidently had misjudged our position. Im- 
mense volumes of water were thrown high in the air by the«e 
destroyers, but no harm was done to our ships. 



BATTLE OF MANILA. 501 

"No other mines exploded, however, and it is believed that 
the Spaniards had only these two in place. 

REMEMBERED THE MAINE. 

"Only a few minutes later the shore battery at Cavite Point 
sent over the flagship a shot that nearly hit the battery in 
Manila, but soon the guns got a better range and the shells 
began to strike near us or burst close aboard from both the 
batteries and the Spanish vessels. 

"The heat was intense. Men stripped off all clothing except 
their trousers. 

"As the Olympia drew nearer all was as silent on board as 
if the ship had been empty, except for the whirr of blowers 
and the throb of the engines. 

"Suddenly a shell burst directly over us. 

"From the boatswain's mate at the after five-inch gun came 
a hoarse cry. 'Remember the Maine,' arose from the throats 
of 500 men at the guns. 

"This watchword was caught up in turrets and firerooms 
wherever seaman or fireman stood at his post. 

" 'Remember the Maine!' had rung out for defiance and re- 
venge. Its utterance seemed unpremeditated, but was evi- 
dently in every man's mind, and, now that the moment had 
come to make adequate reply to the murder of the Maine's 
crew, every man shouted what was in his heart. 

READY TO BEGIN. 

"The Olympia was now ready to begin the fight. 

"Commodore Dewey, his chief of staff, Commodore Lam- 
berton, an aide and myself, with Executive Officer Lieuten- 
ant Rees and Navigator Lieutenant Calkins, who conned ship 
most admirably, were on the forward bridge. Captain Gridley 
was in the conning tower, as it was thought unsafe to risk 
losing all the senior officers by one shell. 

" 'You may fire when ready, Gridley,' said the Commodore, 
and at nineteen minutes of 6 o'clock, at a distance of 5500 



502 BATTLE OF MANILA. 

yards, the starboard eight-inch gun in the forward turret 
roared forth a compliment to the Spanish forts. 

"Presently similar guns from the Baltimore and the Boston 
sent 250-pound shells hurling toward the Castilla and the 
Reina Christina for accuracy. 

"The Spaniards seemed encouraged to fire faster, knowing 
exactly our distance, while we had to guess their. Their ship 
and shore guns were making things hot for us." 

"open with all guns." 

A number of incidents of narrow escapes from death oc- 
curred during the battle, at one time a shell passing under 
Commodore Dewey and gouging a hole in the deck. Chang- 
ing his course to a distance of 4000 yards. Commodore Dewey 
finally issued the order to "Open with all guns." and soon all 
the vessels were hard at work. The result of this fierce cannon- 
ade is described by the Associated Press correspondent, who 
says: 

"By this time the Spanish ships were in a desperate condi- 
tion. The flagship Reina Christina was riddled with shot and 
shell, one of her steam pipes had burst and she was believed 
to be on fire. The Castilla was certainly on fire, and soon 
afterward their condition became worse and worse, until they 
were eventually burned to the water's edge. 

"The Don Antonio de Ulloa made'a most magnificent show 
of desperate bravery. When her commander found she was 
so torn by the American shells that he could not keep her 
afloat, he nailed her colors to the mast, and she sank with all 
hands fighting to the last. Her hull was completely riddled 
and her upper deck had been swept clean by the awful fire of 
the American guns, but the Spaniards, though their vessels 
were sinking beneath them, continued working the guns on 
her lower deck until she sank beneath the waters. 

FATE OF A TORPEDO-BOAT. 

"During the engagement a Spanish torpedo-boat crept along 



BATTLE OF MANILA. 503 

the shore and round the offing, in an attempt to attack the 
American store ships, but she was promptly discovered, was 
driven ashore, and was actually shot to pieces. 

"The Mindanao had, in the meanwhile, been run ashore to 
save her from sinking, and the Spanish small craft had sought 
shelter from the steel storm behind the breakwater. 

THE FINISHING TOUCHES. 

"The battle, which was started at about 5.30 A. M., and ad- 
journed at 8.30 A. M., was resumed about noon, when Com- 
modore Dewey started in to put the finishing touches to his 
glorious work. There was not much fight left in the Spaniards 
by that time, and at 2 P. M. the Petrel and Concord had shot 
the Cavite batteries into silence, hiving them heaps of ruins 
and floating the white flag. 

"The Spanish gunboats were then scuttled, the arsenal was 
on fire and the explosion of a Spanish magazine caused fur- 
ther mortality among the defenders of Spain on shore. 

"On the water the burning, sunken or destroyed Spanish 
vessels could be seen, while only the cruiser Baltimore had 
suffered in any way from the fire of the enemy. A shot which 
struck her exploded some ammunition near one of her guns 
and slightly injured a half-dozen of the crew." 

AFTER THE ACTION. 

At the end of the action Commodore Dewey anchored his 
fleet in the bay before Manila, and sent a message to the Gov- 
ernor-General, General Augusti, announcing the inauguration 
of the blockade, and adding that if a shot was fired against his 
ships he would destroy every battery about Manila. 

The position occupied by the Spaniards, the support which 
their ships received from the land batteries, and the big guns 
they had on shore gave them an enormous advantage. There- 
fore, when it is considered that the Spaniards lost over 600 
men in killed and wounded, that all their ships, amounting to 
about fourteen, were destroyed, and that their naval arsenal at 



504 BATTLE OF MANILA. 

Cavite was also destroyed, with its defences, it will become 
apparent that the victory of the American Commodore is one 
of the most complete and wonderful achievements in the his- 
tory of naval warfare. 

Not a man on the American fleet was killed, not a ship was 
damaged to any extent, and only eight men were injured 
slightly on board the Baltimore. 

THE SPANISH LOSS. 

The losses of the Spaniards include ten warships, several 
torpedo-boats, two transports, navy-yard and nine batteries. 
Including the losses ashore, about 1200 Spaniards were killed 
or wounded. 

The estimated value of the Spanish property destroyed or 
captured is $6,000,000. On the American side the total loss is 
eight men wounded and $5000 damage to the ships. 

THE AMERICANS WOUNDED. 

The eight wounded men of the Baltimore are Lieut. Frank 
Woodruff Kellogg, of Waterbury, Conn., aged 41; Ensign 
Noble Edward Irwin, of Greenfield, Ohio, aged 29; Coxswain 
Michael John Buddinger, of Manitowoc, Wis.; Landsman 
Robert L. Bartow, of Bartow, Minn., aged 25; Seaman Rich- 
ard P. Covert, of Racine, Wis., aged 28; Seaman William 
O'Keefe, of Newark, N. J., aged 30; Seaman Rosario Ricciar- 
delli, born in Italy but a naturalized American, aged 24, and 
Coxswain Edward Snelgrove, of Ellensburg, Wash., aged 24. 

From Admiral Dewey's statement, taken in connection with 
the press reports, the officials of the Navy Department are 
satisfied that none of these officers or men are seriously in- 
jured. They gather from the accounts that the explosion of 
ammunition, which is supposed to have caused most of the 
injuries, was confined to one small box or chest of the fixed 
ammunition that is put up for six-pounder guns and kept be- 
side the gun whenever the ship is cleared for action. 



BATTLE OF MANILA. 505 

ACTION OF THE FLEET. 

On Monday following the battle the American forces occu- 
pied the Spanish navy-yard at Manila, blew up six batteries 
at the entrance of the bay, cut the cable, established a blockade 
of Manila and drove the Spanish forces out of Cavite. Tues- 
day and Wednesday the lower bay and entrance were swept 
for torpedoes, and the crews were given a well-earned rest. 
while the Admiral prepared his dispatches. 

INCIDENTS OF THE FIGHT. 

During the engagement Sunday one shot struck the Balti- 
more and passed clean through her, fortunately hitting no 
one. Another ripped up her main deck, disabled a six-inch 
gun and exploded a box of three-pounder ammunition, 
wounding eight men. 

The Olympia was struck abreast the gun in the ward room 
by a shell, which burst outside, doing little damage. 

The signal halyards were cut from Lieutenant Brumby's 
hand on the after bridge. A shell entered the Boston's port 
quarter and burst in Ensign Dodridge's stateroom, starting a 
hot fire, and fire was also caused by a shell which burst in the 
port hammock netting. Both these fires were quickly put out. 

Another shell passed through the Boston's foremast, just in 
front of Captain Wildes, on the bridge. 

COMMODORE DEWEY — HE SMELLED POWDER IN THE CIVIL WAR 
AND HAS HAD A VARIED CAREER IN THE NAVY. 

Commodore Dewey was born in Vermont sixty-one years 
ago, and entered the navy when he was seventeen years of age. 
On graduation from the Naval Academy in 1858 he was or- 
dered to the steam frigate Wabash, of the European squadron, 
for a cruise which lasted until 1859. Commissioned a lieuten- 
ant April 19, 1861, he was attached to the Mississippi, of the 
West Gulf squadron, from 1861 to 1863, taking part in the cap- 
ture of New Orleans in 1862. and the battle at Port Hudson in 



506 



BATTLE OF MANILA. 



July, 1863. The Mississippi was destroyed in this action, be- 
ing struck 250 times in a short time. Lieutenant Dewey was 
also in a gunboat fight at Donaldsonville soon afterward, and 
the next year was on the Agawam, of the North Atlantic block- 
ading squadron, taking part in both attacks on Fort Fisher. 

Made a lieutenant-commander March 3, 1865, he was in turn 
the executive officer of the Kearsarge and the Colorado, of the 
European squadron, and was given his first command — that of 
the Narragansett — on special duty, in 1871, at the unusually 
early age of thirty-three. As commander he was again ap- 
pointed to the Narragansett. doing three years of deep-sea 
surveying in the Pacific. 

He did lighthouse duty from 1876 to 1882, and commanded 
the Juniata, of the Asiatic squadron, in 1882-1883. He became 
captain in 1884 and was the first commander of the Dolphin, 
the first ship of the new navy. His last previous sea command 
was that of the Pensacola on the European station, 1885-1888. 

From 1889 to 1893 he was in charge of the Navy Depart- 
ment bureau of equipment and recruiting. He was put in 
charge of the Asiatic squadron January 1 of this year, having 
become a commodore February 28. 1896. 



PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 507 



PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

The following report upon the Philippine Islands is the first 
official publication in relation to them. It was made by Mr. 
Oscar F. Williams, Consul at Manila, and is dated February 
28, 1898. It will form a part of the forthcoming edition of 
"Commercial Relations, 1896-97," but is published in advance 
because of the general demand for information. The report 
is as follows: 

"Local and European authorities estimate the area of the 
Philippine Islands at 150,000 square miles, and their popula- 
tion at 8,000,000 to 10,000,000 people. The island of Luzon, 
on which the city of Manila is situated, is larger than New 
York and Massachusetts, and has a population of 5,000,000; 
and the island of Mindanao is nearly, if not quite, as large. 
There are scores of other islands, large and very populous. 
An idea of the extent of the Philippines may be formed when 
it is stated that the six New England States, New York, New 
Jersey, Maryland and Delaware have 10 per cent, less area. 
In addition to the Philippine Islands, the Caroline, Ladrone 
and Sooloo groups are considered under the jurisdiction of 
this consulate (Manila). I have received a petition requesting 
that a consular agency be established at Yep, in the Caroline 
group. 

"In all, there are about 2000 islands in a land and sea area 
of about 1200 miles of latituda and 2400 miles of longitude. 

EXPORTS. 

"During the quarter ending December 31, 1897, there were 
exported from these islands to the United States and Great 
Britain 216,898 bales of hemp (280 pounds per bale), of which 
138,792 bales went to the United States and only 78,106 bales 
to Great Britain. During the year 1897 there was an increase 



508 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

in the export of hemp from the Philippines to continental 
Europe of 19,741 bales; to Australia, 2192 bales; to China, 28 
bales; to Japan, 2628 bides, and to the United States, 133,896 
bales — a total increase of 158,485 bales, while to Great Britain 
there was a decrease of 22,348 bales. 

■ "Thus, of increased shipments from the Philippines, those 
to the United States were 544 per cent, greater than to all 
other countries combined. 

"Of the total exports of hemp from the Philippines for the 
ten years ended 1897, amounting to 6,528,965 bales (914,055 
tons), 41 per cent, went to the United States. 

"During the same years the Philippine Islands exported to 
the United States and to Europe 1,582,904 tons of sugar, of 
which 875,150 tons went to the United States, 666,391 tons to 
Great Britain, and 41,362 tons to continental Europe, showing 
that of the total exports more than 55 per cent, went to the 
United States. 

"At the current values in New York of hemp (four cents 
per pound) and of raw sugar (three and three-eighths cents per 
pound), the exports of these two products alone from these 
islands to the United States, during the ten years under re- 
view, amounted to $89,263,722.80, or an average of nearly 
$8,926,372* per year. 

"Data as to cigars, tobacco, copra, woods, hides, shells, in- 
digo, coffee, etc., are not now obtainable; but a conservative 
estimate would so raise the above figures as to show United 
States imports from these islands to average about $1,000,000 
per month. Today I have authenticated invoices for export 
to United States amounting to $138,066.12. 

"The following statement of the general trade of the Philip- 
pine Islands is taken from Review of the World's Commerce. 
1896-97, shortly to be published by the Bureau of Foreign 
Commerce. 



♦According to the returns of the Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Depart- 
ment, the annual imports into the United States from the Philippine Islands 
amounted to $74,150,284 during the ten years ended June 30, 1S97, or 17,415,02s 
per year. For the seven years ended with 1894 the imports averaged $8,564,- 
611 per year, but for the last three years the imports fell off nearly one-half, 
amounting to only $4,731,366, $4,982,857 and $4,383,740, in 1895, 1896 and 1897 
respectively. 



PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



509 



"According to a British Foreign Office report (No. 1932, 
annual series, 1897), the total imports into the islands in 1896 
were valued at $10,631,250, and the exports at $20,175,000. The 
trade with several of the most important countries (compiled 
from the respective official statistics) was: 

Country. Imports. Exports. 

Great Britain .$2,467,090 $7,467,500 

Germany 744.928 223,700 

France 1,794,900 1,987.900 

Belgium 272,240 45.66o 

United States 162,446 4.982,857 

China 103,680 13,770 

Japan* 98,782 1,387,909 

*In 1897. 

"About 13 per cent, of the imports, says the Statesman's 
Year Book, come from Spain. Three-fifths of the imports 
from Great Britain consist of cotton manufactures and yarn. 

"Details of trade with the United States during the last 
two years are given by the United States Treasury as follows: 



ARTICLES. 



Imports. 

Hemp, manila tons.. 

Cane sugar (not above No. i6)..lbs.. 
Fiber, vegetable, not hemp.. . .tons. . 
Fiber, vegetable, manufactures of. . . 

Straw, manufactures of 

Tobacco lbs.. 

Miscellaneous 



Total. 



Exports. 

Cotton, manufactures of 

Oils, mineral, refined gallons. 

Varnish gallons. 

All other 



Total. 



1896. 



Q t?es U - Values - 



35.584 

i42.075.344 

872 



1,280 



$2,499,494 
2,270,902 
68,838 
26,428 
81,352 
808 
35,035 



1897. 



^ief- Values 



38,533 

72,463,577 

5,450 



2.857 g4.383,740 



$2,701,651 

1, '99,202 

384.155 

22,170 

72,137 

2,338 

1,087 



1,130,769 
1,138 



1,500 
61,274 



{162,446 



600,837 
2,483 



2,164 

45,9o8 

2,239 

44,286 

$94,597 



"It should be noted that our trade is really much larger 
(especially in the item of exports to the islands) than is indi- 



510 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

cated by the above figures. Large quantities of provisions 
(flour, canned goods, etc.,) are sent to Hong Kong or other 
ports for transshipment, and are credited to those ports in- 
stead of to Manila. 

"In a report published in Highways of Commerce, Consul 
Elliott, of Manila, says that there is but one railway in the 
islands — from Manila to Dagupin — a distance of 123 miles. It 
is single track, and well built, steel rails being used its entire 
length, the bridges being of stone or iron and the station 
buildings substantial. English engines are used, which make 
forty-five miles per hour. The government assisted in the 
construction of the road by making valuable concessions oi 
land with right of way its entire length and by guaranteeing 
8 per cent, per year upon the stock of the road for a period oi 
ninety-nine years, when it is to become state property. So far, 
adds the Consul, the road has paid more than 10 per cent, per 
annum to shareholders. 

"'Mr. Elliott also states that the Compania Transatlantica 
(Manila- Liverpool) maintains a monthly service to Europe; 
that there are four lines of steamers to Hong Kong and many 
local lines plying between Manila and the provinces, the larg- 
est having twenty-eight steamers of 25,000 tonnage. 

"Consular Reports No. 203 (August, 1897,) quotes from a 
report published in the Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie 
Commerciale (Paris, 1897, Vol. XIX, No. 4) the following 
description of the industrial condition of the Philippine 
Islands: 

"There are about 25,000 Europeans resident in the islands 
(the total population is nearly 8,000,000), of course, not count- 
ing the troops. Some 12,000 are established in the capital. 
Manila, the center of the colonial government. English, 
Spanish and German houses are engaged in trade, advancing 
money to the natives on their crops. Such business methods 
involve risks and necessitate large capital in the beginning, 
but the profits are immense. The land is fertile and produc- 
tive, and lacks only intelligent cultivation. Abaca (Manila 
hemp) is one of the chief sources of wealth of the country. 
Sugar-cane does not give as satisfactory returns, owing largelv 



PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 511 

to the ignorance of planters. The average production is 178,- 
000,000 kilograms (175,180.96 tons), while that of Cuba is equal 
to 720,000,000 kilograms. The sugar goes almost entirely to 
Japan, England and the United States. It is of poor quality 
and very cheap. The cultivation of tobacco is one of the most 
important industries, although it is capable of much greater 
development. The native coffee, although not equal to the 
Mocha or Bourbon varieties, has a fine aroma. It goes chiefly 
to Spain. Cocoa trees grow in abundance, and the oil is used 
for lighting houses and streets. The indigo is famous for its 
superior qualities. The inhabitants are apathetic to a degree 
that is noticeable, even in these countries, where everyone is 
averse to exertion. The women have long and slender fin- 
gers, remarkably fine and sensitive, and well adapted to their 
work. The hats and cigarette-holders they make and the 
articles they embroider are mpdels of delicacy. Cotton-spin- 
ning and work in bamboo are among the chief industries." 



AGUINALDO ONLY TWENTY-SIX YEARS OLD. 

If Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, who has declared himself dictator 
of all the Philippines, were to walk the streets of an American 
city the casual observer would take him for a Japanese student 
or artisan. 

He is short, but well knit, has the Japanese cast of face and 
form of head, and the casual observation would be strength- 
ened by a bristly black pompadour of the kind so common 
among the Mikado's subjects. There are no outward or visi- 
ble marks of genius, except that the General is slow and delib- 
erate, and that may be a sign of depth and breadth of mental 
caliber. 

The rebel leader is unruffled alike in victory and defeat. In 
the privacy of his state chamber he may execute a double 
shuffle or survey himself in a mirror when his trusted lieuten- 
ants bring tidings of a fresh victory, or he may toss on his cot 
at night when the Spanish occasionally have the advantage, 
but the visitor searches in vain for the play of emotion, senti- 
ment, hope or despair when he is presented. 



512 PEILTPPTNE ISLANDS. 

Aguinaldo's chief concern now is the preservation of his 
precious head. When he first landed at Cavite he fought with 
his men, but there soon came a need for more executive work 
and an increasing fear of assassination, and the leader sought 
safety in Cavite. There he is surrounded by a corps of his 
trusted followers. The safeguards which surround him are 
such that he is protected from everything save the treachery 
of those in high place. 

He has established headquarters in the former home of a 
rich native, situated on Calle de Arsenal, Cavite's main avenue. 
The house is broad, low, roomy and typically Spanish. It was 
in old Cavite that Aguinaldo was born twenty-six years ago, 
and he has established his aged mother and several of his rela- 
tives in his headquarters. There is a paved court at the street 
entrance, and a guard of insurgents line it on each side. They 
come to a "present" for Americans, and good form calls for a 
salute in return. A stairway leads from the court, and the 
landing at the top is large and makes a good ante-chamber. 
Here stand guards in uniforms of a material suspiciously like 
blue gingham. 

There is little delay for the American visitor, and the sum- 
mons to enter the reception room comes quickly. The pre- 
sentations are simple. Aguinaldo comes in, extends his hand 
for a short shake and then motions the visitors to seats. He 
wears a spotless suit of white linen, a white shirt with well- 
polished front, a high collar and a black cravat tied in a bow. 

When questioned as to his troops at a recent interview. 
Aguinaldo examined a small war map showing the provinces 
heading on Manila bay, and traced the movements of the 
troops, the distribution of his garrisons, the locations of his 
lines and the prospective advances, with deliberation and 
mastery of details. He smiled over the capture of Batangas 
without the loss of a man, but that was the only change in his 
countenance in a long interview. It took a long stretch of the 
imagination to appreciate that the quiet little man in spotless 
linen was the leader of an active rebellion and the ally of an 
invading force. 



DETAILED REPORT OF .VITAL VICTORY. 513 



DETAILED REPORT OF NAVAL VICTORY BY ADMIRALS 
SAMPSON. SCHLEY AND CAPTAIN CLARK 

admiral Sampson's report. 

Sir — I have the honor to make the following report upon 
the battle with and the destruction of the Spanish squadron, 
commanded by Admiral Cervera, off Santiago de Cuba, on 
Sunday, July 3, 1898. 

The enemy's vessels came out of the harbor between 9.35 
c.nd 10 A. M., the head of the column appearing around Cay 
Smith at 9.31, and emerging from the channel five or six 
minutes later. 

The positions of the vessels of my command off Santiago 
at that moment were as follows: The flagship New York was 
four miles east of her blockading stati, a, and about seven 
miles from the harbor entrance. She had started for Siboney, 
where I intended to land, accompanied by several of my staff, 
and go to the front to consult with General Shafter. A discus- 
sion of the situation and a more definite understanding be- 
tween us of the operations proposed had been rendered neces- 
sary by the unexpectedly strong resistance of the Spanish gar- 
rison at Santiago. I had sent my chief of staff on shore the 
day before to arrange an interview with General Shafter. who 
had been suffering from heat prostration. I made arrange-- 
ments to go to his headquarters, and my flagship was in the 
position mentioned above when the Spanish squadron appeared 
in the channel. 

The remaining vessels were in or near their usual blockad- 
ing positions, distributed in a semi-circle about the harbor 
entrance, counting from the eastward to the westward, in the 
following order: The Indiana, about a mile and one-half from 
shore: the Oregon, the New York's place between these two: 
the Iowa. Texas and Brooklyn, the latter two miles from the 



514 DETAILED REPORT OF NAVAL VICTORY. 

shore west of Santiago. The distance of the vessels from the 
harbor entrance was from two and one-half to four miles, the 
latter being the limit of day blockading distance. The length 
of the arc formed by the ships was about eight miles. The 
Massachusetts had left at 4 A. M. for Guantanamo for coal. 
Her station was between the Iowa and Texas. The auxiliaries 
Gloucester and Vixen lay close to the land and nearer the 
harbor entrance than the large vessels, the Gloucester to the 
eastward and the Yiven to the westward. The torpedo-boat 
Ericsson was in company with the flagship and remained with 
her during her chase until ordered to discontinue, when she 
rendered very efficient service in rescuing prisoners from the 
burning Vizcaya. I enclose a diagram showing approximately 
the positions of the vessels as described above. 

The Spanish vessels came rapidly out ol the harbor at a 
speed estimated at from eight to ten knots, anil in the follow 
ing order: Infanta Maria Teresa (flagship), Vizcaya, Cristo 
bal Colon and the Almirante < >quendo. The distance between 
these ships was about Soo yards, which means that from the 
time the first one became visible in the upper reach of tin- 
channel until tin- last one was out of the harbor an interval of 
only about twelve minutes elapsed. Following the Oquendo 
at a distance of about 1200 yards came the torpedo-boat de 
stroyer Pluton, and after her the Furor. The armored cruisers, 
as rapidly as they could bring their suns to bear, opened a 
vigorous fire upon the blockading vessels, and emerged from 
the channel shrouded in the smoke from their guns. 

The men of our ships in front of the port were at Sun 
day "quarters for inspection." The signal was made simul- 
taneously from several vessels. "Enemy's ships escaping." and 
general quarters was sounded. The men cheered as they 
sprang to their guns, and fire was opened probably within 
eight minutes by the vessels whose guns commanded the en- 
trance. The New York turned about and steamed for the 
escaping fleet, flying the signal. "Close in towards harboi 
entrance and attack vessels." and gradually increasing si.ee. 1 
until toward the end of the chase she was making sixteen and 
one-half knots and was rapidly closing on the Cristobal Colon 



DETAILED REPORT OF NAVAL VICTORY. 515 

She was not at any time within the range of the heavy Span- 
ish ships, and her only part in the fighting was to receive the 
undivided fire from the forts in passing the harbor entrance 
and to fire a few shots at one of the destroyers, thought at 
ihe moment to be attempting to escape from the Gloucester. 

The Spanish vessels upon clearing the harbor turned to 
the westward in column, increasing their speed to the full 
power of their engines. The heavy blockading vessels, which 
had closed in toward the Morro at the instant of the enemy's 
appearance, and at their best speed, delivered a rapid fire. 
well sustained and destructive, which speedily overwhelmed 
and silenced the Spanish fire. The initial speed of the Span- 
iards carried them rapidly past the blockading vessels, and the 
battle developed into a chase in which the Brooklyn and Texas 
had, at the start, the advantage of position. The Brooklyn 
maintained this lead. The Oregon, steaming with amazing 
speed from the commencement of the action, took first place. 
The Iowa and the Indiana, having done good work, and not 
having the speed of the other ships, were directed by me. in 
succession, at about the time the Vizcaya was beached, to 
drop out of the chase and resume blockading stations. These 
vessels rescued many prisoners. The Vixen, finding that the 
rush of the Spanish ships would put her between two fires, ran 
outside of our own column and remained there during the 
battle and chase. 

The skillful handling and gallant fighting of the Glouces- 
ter excited the admiration of everyone who witnessed it. and 
merits the commendation of the Navy Department. She is a 
fast and entirely unprotected auxiliary vessel — the yacht Cor- 
sair — and has a good battery of light rapid-firing guns. She 
was lying about two miles from the harbor entrance, to the 
southward and eastward, and immediately steamed in. open 
ing fire upon the large ships. Anticipating the appearance of 
the Pluton and Furor, the Gloucester was slowed, thereby 
gaining more rapidly a high pressure of steam, and when the 
destroyers came out she steamed for them at full speed and 
was able to close at short range, where her fire was accurate, 



516 DETAILED REPORT OF \ III/. VICTORY. 

deadly and of great volume. During this fight the Gloucester 
was under the fire of the Socapa battery. 

Within twenty minutes from the time they emerged from 
Santiago harbor the careers of the Furor and the Pluton were 
ended and two-thirds of their people killed. The Furor was 
beached and Mink in the surf; the Pluton sank in deep water 
a few minutes later. The destroyers probably suffered much 
injury From the fire of the secondary batteries of the battle- 
ships Iowa. Indiana and the Texas, yet, 1 think, a very con- 
siderable factor in their speedy destruction was the fire, at 
close range, of the Gloucester's battery. After rescuing the 
survivors of the destroyers the Gloucester did excellent ser- 
vice in landing and securing the crew of the Infanta Maria 
Teresa 

The method of escape attempted by the Spaniards — all 
Steering in the same direction and in formation — removed all 
tactical doubts or difficulties and made plain trie duty of every 
United State- \cssel to close in. immediately engage and pur- 
sue. This was promptly and effectivelj done. As already 
stated, the first rush of the Spanish squadron carried it past .1 
number of the blockading ships, which could not immedi- 
ately work up to their best speed, but they suffered heavily in 
passing, and the Infanta Maria Teresa and the Oquendo were 
probably set on tire by shells tired during the first fifteen 
minutes of the engagement. It was afterward learned that the 
Infanta Maria Teresa's fire-main had been cut by one of our 
first shots, and that she was unable to extinguish fire. With 
large volumes of smoke rising from their lower decks aft these 
vessels gave up both fight and (light and ran in on the beach 
— the Infanta Maria Teresa at about 10.15 A. M. at Xima Xima. 
six and one-half miles from Santiago harbor entrance, and the 
Almirante Oquendo at about 10.30 A. M. at Juan Corzales. 
seven miles from the port. 

The Yizcaya was still under the fire of the leading vessels; 
the Cristobal Colon had drawn ahead, leading the chase, and 
soon passed beyond the range of the guns of the leading Amer- 
ican ships. The Yizcaya was soon set on fire, and at 11. 15 she 
turned in on shore and was beached at Accerraderos. fifteen 



DETAILED REPORT OF \ I 11/. VICTORY. .",17 

miles from Santiago, burning fiercely and with her reserves 
of ammunition on deck already beginning to explode. When 
about ten miles west of Santiago the Indiana had been signalled 
to go back to the harbor entrance, and at Accerraderos the 
Iowa was signalled to resume blockading station. The Iowa. 
; s.Msted by the Ericsson and the Xist. took off the crew of the 
A izcaya. while the Harvard and the Gloucester rescued those 
of the Infanta Maria Teresa and the Almirante Oquendo. 

This rescue of prisoners, including the wounded from the 
burning Spanish vessels, was the occasion of some of the most 
daring and gallant conduct of the day. The ships were burn- 
ing tore and aft. their ltuiis and reserve ammunition were ex- 
ploding, and it was not known at what moment the fire would 
reach the main magazines. "In addition to this a heavy surf 
was running just inside of the Spanish ships. But no risk 
deterred our officers and men until their work of humanity was 
completed. 

There remained now of the Spanish ships only the Cris- 
tobal Colon, but she was their best and fastest vessel. Forced 
by the situation to hug the Cuban coast, her only chance of 
escape was by superior and sustained speed. When the Yiz- 
caya went ashore the Colon was .about six miles ahead of the 
Brooklyn and the Oregon, but her spurt was finished and the 
American ships were now gaining upon her. Behind the 
Brooklyn and the Oregon came the Texas. Vixen and New 
York. It was evident from the bridges of the New York that 
a'l the American ships were gradually overhauling her and 
that she had no chance of escape. 

The harbor of Santiago is naturally easy to blockade, 
there being but one entrance, and that a narrow one. and the 
deep. water extending close up to the shore line presenting no 
difficulties of navigation outside of the entrance. At the time 
ol my arrival before the port, June i. the moon was at its full, 
and there was sufficient light during the night to enable any 
movement outside the entrance to be detected; but with the 
waning of the moon and the coming of dark nights there was 
opportunity for the enemy to escape or for his torpedo-boat- 
to make an attack upon the blockading vessels. It was ascer- 



518 DETAILED REPORT OF \ I I I /. VICTORY. 

tained with lair conclusiveness that the Merrimac, so gallantly 
taken into the channel on June ,5. did not obstruct it. I there- 
Eore maintained the blockade as follows: 

To the battleships was assigned the duty, in turn, of light- 
ing the channel. Moving up to the port at a distance of from 
one to two miles from the Morro, dependent upon the condi 
tion of the atmosphere, they threw a searchlight beam di 
redly up the channel and held it steadily there. This lighted 
up the entire breadth of the channel for half a mile inside th - 
entrance so brilliantly that the movement of small boats 
could be detected. Why the batteries never opened fire upon 
the searchlight ship was always a matter of surprise to me. 
but they never did. Stationed close to the entrance of the 
port were three picket launches, and at a little distance fur 
ther out three small picket vessels — usually converted yachts — 
and, when they were available, one or two of our torpedo 
boats. 

With this arrangement there was at least a certainty that 
nothing could gel oul of the harbor undetected. Alter the 
arrival of the army, when the situation forced upon the Span 
ish admiral a decision, our vigilance increased. The nighl 
blockading distance was reduced to two miles for all vessels, 
and a battleship was placed alongside the searchlight ship, 
with her broadside trained upon the channel, m readiness to 
tire the instant a Spanish ship should appear. The command- 
ing officers merit the great praise lor the perfect manner in 
which they entered into this plan and put it into execution 
The Massachusetts, which, according to routine, was sent that 
morning to coal at Guantanamo, like the others, had spenl 
wearj nights upon this work, and deserved a better fate than 
to lie absent that morning. 

I inclose, for the information of the Department, copies 
orders and memorandums issued from time to time relating {<• 
the manner of maintaining the blockade. When all the worl 
was done so well it is difficult to discriminate in praise. Th' 
object of the blockade of Cervera's squadron was fully accom 
plished, and each individual bore well his part in it. the com 
modore in command of the second division, the captains of 






DETAILED REPORT OF NAVAL VICTORY. 519 

ships, their officers and men. The fire of the battleships was 
powerful and destructive, and the resistance of the Spanish 
squadron was. in great part, broken almost before they had 
got beyond the range of their own forts. 

ADMIRAL SCHLEY'S REPORT. 

At 9.35 A. M. Admiral Cervera, with the Infanta Maria 
Teresa, Vizcaya, Oquendo, Cristobal Colon and two torpedo- 
boat destroyers, came out of the harbor of Santiago de Cuba 
in column at distance and attempted to escape to the west- 
ward. Signal was made from the Iowa that the enemy was 
coming out. but his movement had been discovered from this 
-hip at the same moment. This vessel was the farthest west 
except the Vixen, of the blockading line. Signal was made 
to the western division, as prescribed in your general orders, 
and there was immediate and rapid movement inward by your 
squadron and a general engagement at ranges beginning at 
1 100 yards and varying to 3000. until the Vizcaya was de- 
stroyed, about 10.50 A. M. The concentration of the fire of 
the squadron upon the ships coming out was most furious 
and terrific and great damage was done them. 

About twenty or twenty-five minutes after the engagement 
began two vessels, thought to be the Maria Teresa and 
( )quendo, and since verified as such, took fire from the effec- 
tive shelling of the squadron and were forced to run on the 
beach some six or seven miles west of the harbor entrance. 
where they burned and blew up later. The torpedo-boat de- 
stroyers were destroyed early in the action, but the smoke 
was so dense in their direction that I cannot say to which ves- 
sel or vessels the credit belongs. This doubtless was better 
seen from your flagship. 

The Vizcaya and Colon, perceiving the disaster to their 
consorts, continued at full speed to the westward to escape. 
and were followed and engaged in a running fight with the 
Brooklyn. Texas. Iowa and Oregon until 10.50. when the Viz- 
caya took fire from our shells. She put her helm to port, and 
with a heavy list to port stood in shore and ran aground at 



DETAILED REPORT OF S'AYAL VICTORY. 

ccerraderos, about twenty miles west of Santiago, on fire 
fore and aft, and where she blew up during the night. Ob- 
■erving that she had struck her colors and that several vessels 
■.ere nearing her to capture and save her crew, signal was 
made to cease tiring. 

The Oregon having proved vastly faster than the other bat- 
tleships, she and the Brooklyn, together with the Texas and 
another vessel, which proved to be your flagship, continued 
westward in pursuit of the Colon, which had run close in 
shore, evidently seeking some good spot to beach if she should 
fail to elude her pursuers. 

This pursuit continued with increasing speed in the Brook- 
lyn, Oregon and other ships, and soon the Brooklyn and the 
Oregon were within long range of the Colon, when the Ore- 
opened fire with her [3-inch guns, landing a shell close 
to the Colon. A moment afterward the Brooklyn opened fire 
with her 8-inch guns, landing a shell just ahead of her. Sev- 
eral other shells were tired at the Colon, now in range of the 
Brooklyn and Oregon's guns. Her commander, seeing all 
chances of escape cut off and destruction awaiting his ship, 
fired a lee gun and struck her flag at 1.15 P. M.. and ran ashore 
at a point some fifty miles west of Santiago harbor. Your 
flagship was coining up rapidly at the time, as was also the 
as and Vixen. A little later, after your arrival, the Cris- 
tobal Cohm. which struck to the Brooklyn and the Oregon, 
was turned over to you as one of the trophies of this great 
victory of the squadron under your command. 

During my official visit a little later Commander Eaton, of 
the Resolute, appeared and reported to you the presence of a 
Spanish battleship near Altares. Your orders to me were to 
take the Oregon and go eastward to meet her. and this was 
done by the Brooklyn, with the result that the vessel reported 
as an enemy was discovered to be the Austrian cruiser In- 
fanta Maria Teresa, seeking the commander-in-chief. 

GREAT WORK OF THE OREGON. 

Sir — I have the honor to report that at 9.30 A. M. yesterday 
the Spanish fleet was discovered standing out of the harbor of 



DETAILED REPORT OF \\\\L VICTORY. 52] 

Santiago de Cuba. They turned to the westward and opened 
fire, to which our ships replied vigorously. For a short time 
there was almost continuous flight of projectiles over this 
ship, but when our line was fairly engaged and the Iowa had 
made a swift advance, as if to ram or close, the enemy's fire 
became defective in train as well as range. The ship was only 
struck three times, and at least two of them were by fragments 
of shells. We had no casualties. 

As soon as it was evident that the enemy's ships were tryin ; 
to break through and escape to the westward we went ahead 
at full speed, with the determination of carrying out to the 
utmost your order — "If the enemy tries to escape the ships, 
close and engage as soon as possible and endeavor to sink his 
vessels or force him to run ashore." We soon passed all of 
our ships except the Brooklyn, bearing the broad pennant of 
Commodore Schley. At first we only used our main battery, 
but when it was discovered that the enemy's torpedo-boats 
were following their ships we used our rapid fire guns as well 
as the 6-inch upon them, with telling effect. 

As we ranged up near the sternmost of their ships she 
headed for the beach, evidently on fire. We raked her as we 
passed, pushing on for the next ahead, using our starboard 
guns as they were brought to bear, and before we had her 
fairly abeam she. too, was making for the beach. The two re- 
maining vessels were now some distance ahead, but our speed 
had increased to sixteen knots, and our fire, added to that of 
the Brooklyn, soon sent another, the Vizcaya, to the shore in 
flames. Only the Cristobal Colon was left, and for a time it 
seemed as if she might escape, but when we opened with our 
forward turret guns and the Brooklyn followed she began to 
edge in toward the east, and her capture or destruction wis 
assured. As she struck the beach her flag came down and the 
Brooklyn signalled "Cease firing," following it with "Con- 
gratulations for the grand victory; thanks for your splendid 
assistance." 

The Brooklyn sent a boat to her, and when the Admiral 
came up with the New York, Texas and Vixen she was taken 
possession of. A prize crew was put on board from this ship. 



522 /'/•;. ICE AGREEMENT OFFICIALLY SIGNED. 

under Lieutenant-Commander Cogswell, the executive officer, 
but before n P. M. the ship, which had been filling in spite 
of all efforts to stop leaks, was abandoned, and just as the crew 
left she went over on her side. 

I cannot speak in too high terms of the bearing and conduct 
of all on hoard this ship. When they found the Oregon had 
pushed to the front and was hurrying to a succession oi con 
flicts with the enemy's vessels, if they could he overtaken and 
would engage, their enthusiasm was intense 
Wry respectfully, 

C I'".. Clark, 

Captain Q. S Navy, Commanding. 
The Commander-in-Chief U. S. Naval Force, North At- 
lantic Station. 



PEACE AGREEMENT OFFICIALLY SIGNED. 



A HISTORIC EVENT 

The peace protocol between Spain and the United States 
was signed at the White House at 4.23 I'. M.. August u. iKo*. 

Immediately following it Adjutant-General Corbin dis- 
patched orders to the commanders of the American forces in 
Cuba. Porto Rico and the Philippines directing them to com- 
mit no further hostile acts against Spain. Similar orders were 
also sent at once to the naval commanders, all by direction oi 
the President. 

The important proceedings which led to this happy cessation 
of actual war took place in the cabinet-room of the White 
House, in the presence of the President. Secretary Day. the 
three assistant Secretaries of State. Messrs. Adee. Moore and 
Cridler: the French Amha^sador. M. Cambon, and his fir^t 
secretary, M. Thiebaut: Private Secretary Cortelyou. Captain 
Montgomery and Major Pruden. of the White House staff. 

The only preliminary formality was the reading and com- 
paring of the two copies. When this had been done Ambas- 
sador Cambon signed both of them, as the representative of 



PEACE AGREEMENT OFFICIALLY SIGNED. 523 

Spain, and Secretary Day affixed his signature as the repre- 
sentative of the United States. 

The President watched the proceedings with interest, and at 
their conclusion he shook hands with the Ambassador, con- 
gratulating him upon the important part he has taken in the 
work of re-establishing peace. 

One copy of the protocol the Ambassador retained, to be 
forwarded to the government at Madrid. The other was re- 
tained by Secretary Day. 

The French Ambassador was at the White House not more 
than half an hour. When he departed all necessary steps to 
bring about a suspension of hostilities had been taken. 

Secretary Alger, accompanied by Adjutant-General Corbin, 
had arrived at the White House while the protocol was being 
signed The first man to hurry from the cabinet-room was 
General Corbin, with the orders to stop fighting. Then the 
Ambassador took his leave and hastened back to the French 
embassy to cable to Spain that the protocol had been executed 
and that the United States had already complied with its terms 
relative to directing a suspension of hostilities. If Spain 
acted with equal promptness both the American and Spanish 
commanders in Porto Rico and Cuba knew before midnight 
that the war had been stopped. 

PROCLAMATION BY THE PRESIDENT. 

The President prepared and signed a proclamation declar- 
ing a suspension of hostilities. It is as follows: 

By the President of the United States of America — A Procla- 
mation : 
Whereas, by a protocol, concluded and signed August 12, 
1898, by William R. Day, Secretary of State of the United 
States, and his excellency Jules Cambon, Ambassador Extra- 
ordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of France at 
Washington, respectively representing for this purpose the 
government of the United States and the government of 
Spain, the United States and Spain have formally agreed upon 



524 PEACE WREEMENT OFFICIALLY SIGNED. 

the terms on which negotiations for the establishment of peace 
between the two countries shall be undertaken; and. 

Whereas, it is in said protocol agreed that upon its conclu- 
sion and signature hostilities between the two countries shall 
be suspended and that notice to that effect shall be given as 
soon as possible by each government to the commanders of 
its military and naval forces: 

Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the 
United States, do, in accordance with the stipulations of the 
protocol, declare and proclaim on the part of the United States 
a suspension of hostilities, and do hereby command that orders 
be immediately given through the proper channels to the com- 
manders of the military and naval forces of the United States 
to abstain from all acts inconsistent with this proclamation. 

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused 
the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of Washington, this I2th day of August, in 
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety- 
eight and of the independence of the United States the one 
hundred and twenty-third. 

William McKinley. 
By the President, 

William R. Day, Secretary of State. 

A copy of the proclamation was cabled to the American 
army and navy commanders. Spain cabled her commanders 
like instructions. 

OFFICIAL STATEM] .1 OF TEB \i 

Secretary Day prepared for publication the following state- 
ment of the peace terms: 

"(1) That Spain will relinquish all claim of sovereignty 
over and title to Cuba. 

"(2) That Porto Rico and other Spanish islands in the Wesl 
Indies and an island in the Ladrones, to be selected by the 
United States, shall be ceded to the latter. 

"(3) That the United States will occupy and hold the city. 
bay and harbor of Manila pending the conclusion of a treaty 



DIARY OF THE WAR. :>27> 

of peace which shall determine the control, disposition and 
government of the Philippines. 

"(4) That Cuba, Porto Rico and other Spanish islands in 
the West Indies shall be immediately evacuated, and that com- 
missioners, to be appointed within ten days, shall within thirty 
days from the signing of the protocol meet at Havana and San 
Juan, respectively, to arrange and execute the details of the 
evacuation. 

"(5) That the United States and Spain shall each appoint 
not more than five commissioners to negotiate and conclude 
a treaty of peace. The commissioners are to meet at Paris not 
later than the first of October. 

"(6) On the signing of the protocol hostilities were sus- 
pended and notice to that effect was given as soon as possible 
by each government to the commanders of its military and 
naval forces." 

DIARY OF THE WAR. 

A COMPLETE RECORD FROM ITS BEGINNING TO THE CLOSE OF 
HOSTILITIES. 

The following is a diary of the Spanish- American war: 

Explosion of the Maine, February 15. 

President McKinley asked Congress for power to intervene 
in Cuba Monday, April 11. 

Intervention ordered by Congress Tuesday, April 19. 

Resolutions signed by the President Wednesday, April 20, 
11.24 A. M. 

Ultimatum cabled to Minister Woodford Wednesday, April 
20. 

Ultimatum given to Spanish minister. Polo y Bernabe, Wed 
nesday, April 20, noon. 

Senor Polo received his passports Wednesday, April 20, 3,50 
P. M., and left Washington at 7 P. M. the same day. 

Minister Woodford got his passports Thursday. April 21. 

Beginning of the war Thursday, April 21, 7 A. M. Admiral 
Sampson's fleet sailed from Key West to blockade ports of 
Cuba Friday, April 22, 5.45 A. M. First gun of the war fired 



526 />/ 1AM OF THE WAR. 

by the gunboat Nashville Friday, April 22. First prize of the 
war — the Buena Ventura— captured by the Nashville Friday, 
April 22. Official proclamation of the blockade of Cuban 
ports Friday, April 22. Volunteer army bill signed by the 
President Friday, April 22, 3.35 P. M. Blockade begun Fri 
day, April 22, at night. 
The President asked for 125,000 volunteers Saturday, April 

23- 

Bill declaring war begun passed Monday, April 25. 

Secretary of State John Sherman resigned Monday, .April 25. 

Forts at the mouth of Matanzas harbor bombarded by the 
New York, Cincinnati and Puritan Wednesday, April 27, 12.57 
P. M. till 1. 15 P. M, 

Cape Verde Meet Nailed from St. Vincent Friday, April 29. 

A great naval battle fought in the harbor of Manila, Philip- 
pine Islands, and the Spanish Meet of ten vessels and a water 
battery at Cavite destroyed by the United States squadron, in 
command of Commodore George Dewey. Not a man killed 
on the United States ships and only a few wounded. The city 
of Manila at the mercy of the American sailors Sunday, May 
1, beginning at daylight. Commodore Dewey having made a 
most daring entrance of the mined bay under cover of the 
night. 

The refusal of the Thirteenth Regiment (New York) to 
volunteer in the regular army for the war investigated by the 
State authorities Wednesday. May 4. 

Rear-Admiral Sampson went to sea with the most powerful 
battleships of his squadron Wednesday, May 4 

Frequent rioting in Spain reported and serious trouble ap- 
prehended in Madrid Saturday. May /. 

Orders disbanding the Thirteenth Regiment, National Guard 
New York, was promulgated Sunday. May 8. 

Congress passed a joint resolution tendering the thanks of 
itself and the American people to Commodore Dewey and the 
men of his squadron Monday, May Q. 

Wheat sold at $1.91 Tuesday, May ro. 

Commodore Dewey made a rear-admiral Wednesday. May 
II. 



DIARY OF THE WAR. .1*7 

The gunboats Wilmington and Hudson and the torpedo- 
boat Winslow in the first engagement in Cuban waters. En 
sign Bagley and lour other men of the Winslow killed and 
five wounded Wednesday, May 11. 

Acting Rear-Admiral Sampson's squadron bombarded San 
Juan, Porto Rico, Thursday, May 12. 

The Spanish fleet, from the Cape Verde Islands, which was 
said to have arrived at Cadiz, was located off Martinique Fri- 
day, May 13. 

The flying squadron sailed from Hampton Roads Friday, 
May 13. 

rhe Spanish fleet sighted off Curacao, near coast of Vene- 
zuela, Saturday, May 14. 

Arrival of Admiral Cervera and his squadron at Santiago 
de Cuba Thursday, May 19. 

The cruiser San Francisco left Mare Island Navy Yard, San 
Francisco, for Manila Saturday. May 21. 

Arrival of the battleship Oregon at Jupiter, Fla., after a 
voyage of 13,000 miles from San Franciso, Tuesday, May 24, 
10.30 P. M. 

The President's second call for troops — 75,000 — was issued 
on Wednesday, May 25. 

Admiral Dewey reported from Cavite: "No change in the 
blockade; is effective," Saturday, May 28. 

The cruiser Baltimore at Manila reported all right, Satur- 
day. May 28. 

Commodore Schley cannonaded the forts at the entrance to 
the harbor of Santiago de Cuba to locate the enemy's position, 
afternoon of Tuesday, May 31. Morro Castle was destroyed. 

First forlorn hope of the war. Lieut. Richmond P. Hobson 
and seven men volunteered to take the collier Merrimac into 
the narrow channel of Santiago de Cuba and sink it there, so 
as to close the harbor and prevent the escape of the Spanish 
fleet. The daring expedition was successfully carried out. 
Lieutenant Hobson and his men attempting escape to safety 
by swimming across the harbor under the fire of the enemy 
and reaching ashore only to be made prisoners, two of them 
being wounded. Friday morning, June 3. 



DIARi or Till-: WAR. 



The death mi Capt. Charles V. Gridley, of the cruiser Olym- 
pia, announced at the Navy Department Sunday, June 5. 

Bpmbardment of the forts and shore batteries at the en- 
trance to the harbor of Santiago by Admiral Sampson and 
Commodore Schley Monday morning, June 6. 

The Spanish authorities in Madrid admit that the cruiser 
Reina Mercedes was sunk, many officers and men were killed 
and wounded, and that the fortifications were riddled by tin- 
American fleet off Santiago on Monday, June 6, Wednesday, 
June 8. 

The fortifications at Guantanamo, near the entrance to San- 
tiago, reduced by the cruiser Marblehead Wednesday, June 8. 

All Cuban cables reported cut Wednesday. June 8. 

The invasion of Cuba begun by the landing of boo marines, 
after warships had silenced the enemy's forts, at Guantanamo, 
a few miles east of Santiago, Friday. June 10; tents were 
pitched and the camp called McCalla. in honor of the com- 
mander of the cruiser Marblehead. which had led in the reduc- 
tion of the Spanish fortifications there. 

American troops at Guantanamo attacked by the Spaniards, 
who were repulsed. Six Americans killed, including Surgeon 
John Blair Gibbs, and ten wounded, Spanish losses not 
known. 

On Monday, June 13, the first expedition for Santiago left 
Key West. Major-General Shatter was in command, and the 
troops numbered 15,300. 

At 3.01 P. M , Monday. June 13, President McKinlej signed 
the war revenue measure. 

Skirmish between United States marines and Cuban insur- 
gents, under Lieutenant Colonel Huntington, of the United 
States Marine Corps, and Spanish infantry at Guantanamo. 
The Spaniards defeated, with a number killed and wounded. 
Tuesday, June 14. 

The report that Manila had been invested by the Philippine 
insurgents confirmed. Tuesday, June 14. 

Brick forts and earthworks at Cairaanera, near Guantanamo, 
demolished by the Texas. Marblehead and Suwanee Wednes- 
day, June 15. 



DIARY OF THE WAR. . r >2!> 

Second Manila expedition, numbering 4200 men, left San 
Francisco Wednesday, June 15. 

News received on Saturday, June 18, that at a large con- 
course of insurgent chiefs at Old Cavite General Aguinaldo 
proclaimed the independence of the Philippines. 

General Blanco refuses to exchange Lieutenant Hobson 
Saturday. June 18. 

Arrival of General Shafter and his army off Santiago de 
( 'uha Monday. June 20. 

The government decided to send two expeditions of 4000 
men each to reinforce General Shafter in Cuba Tuesday, lime 
2] . 

Mobilization at Fernandina and Miami begun Tuesday, 
June 2i. 

General Shafter' s army landed at Baiquiri, a shorl distanee 

east of the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. Wednesday, June 22. 

Information received by the United States government from 
General Aguinaldo that the Philippines desire to become a 
colony of this country Wednesday. June 22. 

Advance of the United States forces from Baiquiri to Jura- 
gua Thursday. June 23. 

Ten men were killed, including Captain Capron and Sergt. 
Hamilton Fish. Jr.. both of Colonel Wood's Rough Riders. 
and about forty wounded, in a lively skirmish with 2000 Span- 
iards in thick brush near Sevilla and about ten miles from San- 
tiago de Cuba. The Spaniards retired, leaving a number of 
dead on the field. Friday, June 24. 

General Chaffee took Sevilla on Saturday, June 25. 

Camara arrived with his squadron at Port Said Monday, 
June 27. 

President McKinley issued on Monday, June 27, a procla- 
mation increasing the Cuban blockade and also blockading 
the port of San Juan, Porto Rico. 

( )n Monday, June 27, the Navy Department announced that 
a Hying squadron would be formed at once, to be put under 
the command of Commodore J. C. Watson, and to be sent 
against the coast of Spain, 



530 DIARY OF THE WAR. 

Gen. G. N. Gillespie appointed to the command of the De- 
partment of the East .Monday, June 27. 

On Tuesday. June .'8. news was received at the Navy De- 
partment that the St. Paul on the Wednesday previous had 
disabled the Terror, a torpedo-boat destroyer of the enemy. 

General Merritt sailed from San Francisco for the Philippine 
Islands on Wednesday, June 29. 

A general assault on Santiago de Cuba by the army and by 
ships was begun at 7 A. M.. Friday. July 1. The nghtimj. 
lasted till P. M., the American army capturing the enemy's 
outer line of defences. 

Fighting before Santiago was resumed on Saturday morn 
ing. July -'. and continued all day. the American troops cap 
Hiring and holding the lines of the enemy and driving him 
into the city, with heavy losses on both swles. 

General Shatter demanded the surrender of the city of San- 
tiago de Cuba Sunday. July 3. 

Admiral Cervera made a dash out of the harbor of Santiago 
to cut his way through the American ships on Sunday. July 3. 
and escape, and. after one of the greatest naval battles on 
record, his squadron <>i four armored cruisers, the best in the 
Spanish navy, and two powerful torpedo-boat destroyers, was 
completed destroyed; Admiral Cervera was captured, hun- 
dreds of Spaniards, including many officers, were killed by the 
tire of the Americans, under Commodore Schley, or drowned 
by the sinking or burning of their ships, and 1800 prisoners 
were taken Admiral Sampson, who was away reconnoitering. 
arrived in time to see the last sinking ship of the enemy driven 
ashore. 

The Navy Department on Monday. July 4, received a dis- 
patch from Admiral Dewey announcing the safe arrival at 
Manila of the cruiser Charleston and the three transports. tin- 
City of Peking, the Colon and the Australia, with troops on 
board, on June 30. The squadron stopped at the Padrone 
Islands and the Charleston bombarded the island of Guohan. 
the largest of the group, and easily captured it. The Spanish 
governor and garrison were taken prisoners and carried to 
Manila as prisoners of war. 



DIARY OF Till-: WAR. 531 

Wednesday. July 0. the Spanish government ordered Ca- 
mara to return home to protect the Spanish coast from attack 
by Commodore Watson. 

General Toral, commanding the Spanish forces at Santiago, 
sent a flag of truce on Wednesday to General Shatter asking 
for three days' grace and cable operators to notify Madrid of 
Santiago's desire to surrender, all of which was granted. 

( (rders telegraphed from Washington on Thursday. July 7. 
detaching Commodore Watson's squadron from the command 
of Rear-Admiral Sampson and directing him to proceed as 
speedily as possible to Spain and the Mediterranean. The 
squadron included the flagship Newark, the battleships Iowa 
and Oregon, the auxiliary cruisers Dixie. Yankee and Yo- 
semite, the colliers Abarenda. Scinda, Alexander. Caesar. Cas- 
sius, Justin and Leonidas, and the supply ship Delmonico. 

Major-General Miles left Washington for Santiago Thurs- 
day night, July 7. 

Advices received from Admiral Dewey on Friday. July 8, 
to the effect that he would not take Manila until the arrival 
of Major-General Merritt. 

General Miles at Santiago July 11, and assumes command. 

Yellow fever appeared among the American troops at San- 
tiago July 13, and orders were given that no more parley 
should he had respecting the surrender of Santiago. 

General Toral agreed July 14 to surrender Santiago. 

The Spanish government issued a decree July 15 suspending 
the rights of individual citizens. 

Admiral Cervera and the captured officers of his fleet were 
quartered at Annapolis. Md.. July 16. as prisoners of war. 

The city of Santiago was formally delivered to General 
Shafter July 17. and the American flag was hoisted over the 
palace: the Spanish troops marched out and gave up then- 
arms: all the country east of a line drawn through Accerra 
deros. Palma and Sagua, with the troops and munitions of 
war in that district, were surrendered also, the United States 
agreeing to transport the troops back to Spain. 

President McKinley issued a proclamation July 18 providing 
for the government of Santiago. 



532 DIARY OF THE WAR. 

The United States awarded the contract For transporting 
Spanish prisoners to Spain to the Spanish Transatlantic Co. 
July 20. General Wilson started from Charleston For Porto 
Rico with 4000 troops. 

General Miles and a fleet of transports bearing troops left 
Guantanamo July 21 for Porto Rico. 

Die Porto Rico expedition began landing at Guanica July 

-5- 

Spain began negotiations for peace through M. Cambon, 
French Ambassador al Washington, Julj 16 

The answer of the United States giving L.e..ns ■>! peace was 
1 e( en ed in Madrid July 31. 

American troops under General Merril repu'-ed an attack 
bj 3000 Spaniards near Manila July 31. 

A note from the Spanish government was received Augusl 
8 in Washington, new points as to the terms of peace being 
raised. A reply to til is was sent 

The peace protocol was signed August 12. 

Fall of Manila August 13. 

WHAT THE WAR 11 AS COST. 

EXPENDITURE IN MONEY liAS BEEN ABOUT $114,000,000. WHILE 
IIIIKTY-FOUR OFFICERS AND TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY- 
FOUR MEN HAVE BEEN KILLED IN BATTLE. 

The approximate cost of the war to the United States has 
been : 

Expenditures for the army $78,500,000 

Expenditures for the navy 36.000.000 

Total $114,500,000 

LIVES LOST IX THE ARMY. 

Officers killed in battle 33 

Men killed in battle 231 

( )fficers and men wounded, about 1-45° 

* Mhcers and men killed by disease, estimated 1.500 

LIVES LOST IN THE NAVY AND MARINE CORPS. 

Officers killed in battle 1 

Men killed in battle 13 

Men drowned ! 

Men wounded 38 



H31 891 






























'vPC, 






5 • v\ V ^ 



S^ 







• 4* ^ •« 

















£*%> *w^w* a v *^ : ^H^* c*^ ^ 

3* - » - ^ 







**0« 



C u ♦* 



+±t$ 



«*0« 



% 'of 







<=>*- * • « * ° A° ' 






^o 1 








J"^/r?9^ ■» o 
























<k *' 










4* *«• 




V*' 



Ay ^Vi* • « 




